Thauvin on the perch as Sotoca plays barman in Lens’s dawn Cup party at Bollaert | OneFootball

RC Lens brought their Coupe de France party home, keeping Bollaert rocking until dawn after the 3-1 win over Nice. More than 15,000 were inside when the team arrived at 4.09am, and the celebration surged across the pitch.

According to L'Équipe, Bollaert had been full to watch the final on a giant screen, with nearly 60,000 at the Stade de France earlier. By 3am more than 8,000 waited inside, swelled by returning travellers from Saint-Denis.

At 4.09am president Joseph Oughourlian, Cup in hand, emerged with chief executive Benjamin Parrot, sporting director Jean-Louis Leca and head coach Pierre Sage. The squad followed, and Florian Sotoca promptly tripped over a projector before bouncing back into party mode.

Sotoca and others played barmen on the two-hour coach from Saint-Denis. Goalkeeper Régis Gurtner could not dodge the clippers.

Florian Thauvin, with Ruben Aguilar, Sotoca and Adrien Thomasson, climbed the Marek capo’s perch to whip up the crowd. The 2018 world champion voiced his pride, then cried, and Sage, his name chanted, clambered up to greet supporters.

Below, Leca drifted from hugs to kisses and tugged down Sotoca’s shorts, before kitman Boubou sparked a conga. Matthieu Udol gashed a cheek on the Cup, without seriousness, while a shy Odsonne Edouard needed a nudge to lift it. Malang Sarr lingered for a long goodbye, his contract ending and his future uncertain.

By 5am the sun was up and the stadium emptying. The party resumes at 3pm on Saturday with a city parade and an open-top bus near Bollaert.

Source: L'Équipe