Manchester United vs RC Lens Tickets

These two sides have had wildly different levels of success and longevity when it comes to their respective campaigns in Europe.

Whilst Manchester United have regularly been involved in the action in Europe’s premier club cup competition, having undertaken 32 campaigns in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League up until 2023/24, RC Lens are relatively novices, having only been in the tournament on three occasions up to the same period.

It was Sir Alex Ferguson who brought back Manchester United’s European glory days, as the team had either not made an impact or had not qualified for any competitive action on the continent for much of the period between their European Cup win in 1968 and the Scot’s arrival at Old Trafford in 1986.

Indeed, when Ferguson’s time at Manchester United has been analyzed, plenty have speculated that his success in the UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1990/91 had bought him time in the post, having failed to impress in his first three or four seasons in charge.

Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup in 1990 after a replay, and that was the club’s first shot at Europe following the banning of English clubs from competing on the continent.

A Mark Hughes double gave United their win over FC Barcelona in Rotterdam, and that gave Ferguson the springboard to bigger and better things. After two uneventful runs at the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United were impressive in their run to the Semi-Finals in 1996/97, and two years later, they went all the way.

In Barcelona, they met Bayern Munich in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final and famously came back to score twice in injury time and collect their first top-tier European title in over 30 years.

Nine years later, they beat Chelsea on penalties to win their third before finals in Rome in 2009 and Wembley in 2011, resulting in deserved losses to an all-conquering FC Barcelona side.

Since then, the Premier League side have not been all that convincing in the tournament, and Dutch boss Erik ten Hag will be looking to rectify this period of mediocrity.

RC Lens, on the other hand, will just be looking to make the most of a very rare European campaign.

The Ligue 1 side were first involved in the UEFA Champions League in 1998/99 and even managed to take four points from two games against Arsenal, failing to secure a top-two finish by virtue of goal difference.

In 2002/03, they picked up home wins against both AC Milan and Deportivo La Coruna but fell short of qualification from their group once again, and 2023/24 represents their third shot at success.

Manchester United vs RC Lens Head-to-Head

Manchester United and RC Lens have never met in a competitive encounter, which will make this fixture all the more attractive to fans of both teams.

Manchester United vs RC Lens Connections

As of 2023, the only notable player who had appeared for both Manchester United and RC Lens is defender Raphael Varane. The French international came through the ranks at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis side, playing 24 senior games before he attracted the interest of La Liga side Real Madrid.

In the summer of 2011, Varane made his massive move to the Santiago Bernabeu, and over the course of his ten seasons in the Spanish capital, he grew to become one of the most accomplished players in his position across world football.

Varane made 360 appearances for Real Madrid and helped the club to a host of honours, including three domestic titles and four UEFA Champions League winners medals, before leaving to join Manchester United in July 2021.