Lensvs.B. Leverkusen

The visitors began their pre-season bid against Rot-Weiss Essen last week, while their hosts have already turned out five times since the beginning of July in preparation for their Ligue 1 campaign.

Match preview

Lens will return to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Saturday for their sixth friendly of this pre-season, in preparation for the 2024-25 French top-flight campaign under new management.

Following a memorable second-placed finish in the 2022-23 term, Les Sang et Or ended last campaign in seventh spot, narrowly missing out on European qualification having earned 51 points from their 38 outings.

That term brought an end to Franck Haise's four-year tenure as Lens boss, and they turned to Will Still to lead them into the new campaign, beginning with a pleasing start to pre-season as they successfully saw off Kortrijk, Red Star and Leuven, before suffering a first defeat at the hands of Eredivisie outfit Utrecht.

Such a meeting was one of two between the two teams on Saturday, and Still's team prevailed in the other, eventually picking up a 5-4 victory in an eventful contest with Wesley Said netting a brace alongside goals from Stijn Spierings, Remy Labeau Lascary and Tom Pouilly.

Now almost within two weeks of their league curtain-raiser away at Angers, in a bid to improve on their seventh-placed finish in Still's first year at the helm, and with two friendlies remaining after Saturday's contest, Lens will set out to pick up an impressive victory at the weekend to build further confidence in their camp.

That will be no easy task, though, as the visitors arrive aiming to step up their preparations for the upcoming Bundesliga campaign after enjoying a historic season last time around.

In their first full season under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen won their first-ever German top-flight title in style, going unbeaten throughout the entire league campaign and winning 28 of their 34 outings while drawing the other six to finish on 90 points, 17 clear of second spot.

Their eye-catching record did not just span the Bundesliga either, as Die Werkself's only defeat of the entire campaign came at the penultimate hurdle, falling short to Atalanta in the Europa League final in May, only to bounce back and seal the DFB-Pokal title and a domestic double with a 1-0 final win over Kaiserslautern thanks to Granit Xhaka's early goal.

On their return to action, Alonso's men began their run of friendlies with a trip to Rot-Weiss Essen last week and came out on top, as Nathan Tella and Patrik Schick got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 triumph.

Now moving closer to the season with two titles to defend and a DFB-Supercup looming in mid-August, Bayer Leverkusen will aim to build further momentum with another friendly victory on Saturday.

Lens friendly form:

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