PARIS: Teenage substitute Mezian Mesloub gave Lens a 1-0 win over Nantes in Ligue 1 on Friday to clinch his side's qualification for next season’s Champions League, while relegating Nantes to the second tier.
The result also keeps the Ligue 1 title race alive, with second-placed Lens the only team that can still pip Paris Saint-Germain to the trophy.
The 16-year-old substitute Mesloub picked up a loose ball in the box with his first touch in the 79th minute and fired home with his second to break the deadlock on his Ligue 1 debut.
Lens is now guaranteed a top-three finish in Ligue 1 after moving nine points clear of fourth-placed Lille, with both teams having two matches remaining.
The top three teams in Ligue 1 qualify automatically for the Champions League league phase, while the fourth-placed side heads into the qualifying rounds.
Lens, whose budget is not even a 10th of Champions League finalist PSG, still has to play the Parisians, who lead the side by three points and have a game in hand.
Following the win, the sell-out 38,000 crowd at Lens’ Stade Bollaert stayed behind for extravagant celebrations, with the players heralded one at a time on a spotlit centre circle with fireworks flaming.
Stopping PSG remains an outside chance, but Lens is also eyeing silverware in the French Cup, with the final against Nice on May 22.
Lens, the 1998 French champion, was the surprise package earlier in the season as it reached the winter break at the top of the table.
Lens had three goals ruled out for offside or handball on Friday as Nantes held it at bay largely thanks to goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.
Nantes is now guaranteed to finish in the bottom two and will be relegated from Ligue 1.
Club great Vahid Halilhodzic took over as the third coach of its season in March but could not save the Canaries. Agencies
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