Ruben Aguilar and Florian Thauvin’s long bond driving Lens forward | OneFootball

A friendship forged as teenagers at Grenoble has become Lens’s on-field shorthand, with Ruben Aguilar and Florian Thauvin dovetailing down the right. The 32-year-old right-back and the 2018 World Cup winner, who has 13 caps and 2 goals, will be together again when Lens host Le Havre on Friday at 20:45. Aguilar is also a France international, capped once against Finland, a 0-2 defeat on 11 November 2020.

"It is a long-standing connection and we form a fused couple," said Thauvin on Téléfoot.

On 25 October against Marseille, the designated taker hesitated over a penalty versus his former club, so Aguilar asked if he felt it and told him to pass it if not. Thauvin handed the ball to Odsonne Édouard, who scored, and Lens won 2-1. On 6 December at Nantes, a 1-2 victory, Thauvin struck from Aguilar’s only assist so far this season.

Their understanding dates back to Grenoble Foot 38’s academy, where they were often pushed up an age group before playing together in the CFA. The club’s 2011 bankruptcy split them, Aguilar heading to Saint-Étienne then returning for a CFA season in Isère two years later, Thauvin moving to Bastia and rising faster as a professional.

Aguilar says having Thauvin ahead of him, along with Adri Thomasson and Momo Sangaré, is pure joy and that time together off the pitch creates automatisms on it. He feels he can find Flo anywhere and trust him to keep the ball. Aguilar added he spoke to Thauvin late in the move about the club and its community, kept it quiet and is unsure whether he influenced the decision.

Source: L'Équipe