'Simple principles' - Major statement released ahead of Liverpool's clash against PSG

RC Lens have issued a forceful statement opposing their game against Paris Saint-Germain is not rearranged - as the French giants seek an advantage for their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.

PSG have made a formal request to the Ligue de Football Professionnel that their Ligue 1 top-of-t-the-table showdown against Rens on Saturday 11 April is postponed.

Luis Enrique's side play Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday 8 April before the return clash takes place at Anfield on Tuesday 14 April

PSG are seeking that the game against Lens is moved so they have a longer break to prepare for the second leg against Arne Slot's side. Liverpool, meanwhile, play Fulham at Anfield on 11 April

The Ligue de Football Professionnel try to benefit French clubs competing in Europe and will have the final say. However, Lens - gunning for their first Ligue 1 title since 1998 - are vehemently against the idea.

“On March 6, the scheduling of the match pitting Racing Club de Lens against Paris Saint-Germain was finalized, formalizing a framework to which everyone was then invited to adhere. In a spirit of responsibility and restraint, Racing Club de Lens, from the very first requests, made it known to Paris Saint-Germain its intention not to see this date changed. True to a certain idea of sporting stability, the club had also chosen to refrain from any public communication on this subject. However, the recent proliferation of statements, interventions, and various suggestions now leads us to break from this reserve.

“It does indeed appear to us that a troubling sentiment is taking hold: that of a French championship gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some. A singular conception of sporting equity, the equivalent of which is hard to find in other major continental competitions. Changing the date of this match today would mean, for Racing Club de Lens, being deprived of competition for 15 days and then chaining matches every three days—a rhythm that corresponds neither to the one defined at the start of the championship, nor to the resources of a club that could absorb this type of new constraint without consequence.

“It would therefore be understood that the tenth budget in the championship should adapt to the demands of the most powerful, in the name of interests that, evidently, now extend beyond the domestic framework, which has already been lightened in recent seasons (L1 reduced to 18 clubs, discontinuation of the Coupe de la Ligue).

“Beyond this particular case, the question raised is more fundamental: that of the respect due to the competition itself. For it is permissible to wonder when, on its own soil, the championship sometimes seems relegated behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be. Racing Club de Lens remains committed to equity, the clarity of rules, and respect for all stakeholders. Simple principles for a loyal and respected French football.”