RC Lens Stuns Slavia Prague with Last-Minute Comeback

Ruben Aguilar crashed a shot in off the post in stoppage time as RC Lens ripped up the script in Prague, stealing a 3-2 UEFA Champions League win over Slavia Prague that will live long in club folklore.

Dino Toppmöller’s side looked beaten. Reduced to 10 men and dragged into a chaotic finale, they trailed 2-1 in the 89th minute after Sturm had seemingly settled it for the hosts at the Fortuna Arena. The away end sagged. Lens’s first Champions League away win since 1998 looked destined to stay locked in the past.

Then the night turned.

Florian Thauvin levelled in the 91st minute, a late surge of belief given shape and direction. The goal jolted Lens back to life. Slavia, who had one foot on the three points, suddenly looked rattled.

Two minutes later, Aguilar stepped into club history.

The defender, pushed high as Lens threw everything forward, found the angle and drilled a brilliant effort inside the post. The ball kissed the woodwork and flew in. The bench exploded, players sprinting towards the corner as if drawn by a magnet. From near-certain defeat to delirium in the space of four breathless minutes.

After the final whistle, speaking to Canal+, Aguilar admitted that no one in that stadium could have plotted such a wild ending. He spoke about the bond inside this squad, about a group that leans into suffering rather than shying away from it, and how that shared hardship knits them together.

He made it clear what the shirt means.

“When you wear this logo, you have to give 100 per cent,” he said. “We give everything for the people of Lens, and it’s only at this club that you can experience emotions like this. I’m very proud tonight. We couldn’t have written this scenario.”

For Aguilar, the moment carried an extra layer. He wasn’t just the match-winner; he was sharing the stage with a close friend. Thauvin, the other name on the scoresheet, is more than a teammate. The two trained together earlier in their careers, and now, on the biggest European stage, they both found the net on the same night.

“We were trained together and tonight we both scored in the Champions League,” Aguilar said, savouring the symmetry. “My buddy Flo got the man of the match trophy, and I’m so happy for him. We’re really good friends, we have a blast, we suffer together, and we’re all rewarded.”

That word kept returning: together. Aguilar made a point of praising the entire squad, not just the starters or the headline-makers. The substitutes, the players who came on cold into a storm, the ones who pushed from the bench — all, he insisted, stayed locked in through every twist and turn.

The result does more than brighten a European group table. It sharpens Lens’s sense of identity. A team that refused to fold at 2-1 down, away from home, a man short, in a competition where margins are brutal, has given itself a powerful reference point for the season.

Now comes the challenge of turning an unforgettable night in Prague into something more lasting.

Toppmöller’s men return to Ligue 1 on Sunday, when they host Le Mans FC. The roar from the Fortuna Arena will have faded by then, but the resilience and the raw, shared emotion from this comeback will travel home with them.

If Lens can bottle even a fraction of what they found in those final minutes, their domestic campaign may feel very different from here.