Ruben Aguilar's Stoppage-Time Heroics Lead RC Lens to Historic Win
Ruben Aguilar delivered a night RC Lens fans will talk about for years, sealing a wild 3-2 UEFA Champions League win over Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena with a stoppage-time strike that felt almost unreal.
Dino Toppmöller’s side looked beaten. Down to ten men, trailing 2-1 as the clock ticked into the 89th minute after Sturm had fired Prague back in front, Lens seemed set for a harsh lesson on European soil. The Czech crowd roared, the momentum was red and white, and the French side were staring at another painful away night in the competition.
Then the game tore up its own script.
In the 91st minute, Florian Thauvin dragged Lens level, pouncing when his team needed him most. The equaliser flipped the mood in an instant. Slavia, seconds from victory, suddenly looked rattled. Lens, who had been hanging on, now smelled something far bigger than a point.
Two minutes later, Aguilar stepped forward and hit the moment of his career.
His shot arrowed inside the post, a brilliant, precise finish that silenced the stadium and sent the Lens bench charging down the touchline. From 2-1 down in the 89th minute to 3-2 up in the 93rd – in the space of four breathless minutes, the French side had stolen not just the result, but the entire story of the night.
The win was more than just three points. It marked Lens’s first away victory in the Champions League since 1998, a 26-year wait snapped in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.
Speaking to Canal+ after the final whistle, Aguilar admitted that no one could have imagined such chaos. The defender spoke about the bond inside the dressing room, how the squad’s willingness to suffer together keeps them united when games turn wild and hostile.
For him, wearing the Lens badge comes with a clear demand.
“When you wear this logo, you have to give 100 per cent,” he said. “We give everything for the people of Lens, and it's only at this club that you can experience emotions like this. I'm very proud tonight. We couldn't have written this scenario.”
Aguilar’s joy wasn’t just about his own winner. He lit up when talking about Thauvin, his fellow scorer on the night. The pair go back years, having trained together earlier in their careers, and now they share a Champions League memory that will live with both of them.
“We were trained together and tonight we both scored in the Champions League,” Aguilar added. “My buddy Flo got the man of the match trophy, and I'm so happy for him. We're really good friends, we have a blast, we suffer together, and we're all rewarded.”
He made a point of praising the entire squad, including the substitutes, for staying locked in as the game swung from one extreme to the other. Every tackle, every sprint, every reaction from the bench fed into a night where mentality mattered as much as quality.
Lens now have to come down from that high in a hurry. The Champions League euphoria gives way to the grind of Ligue 1, with Le Mans FC visiting on Sunday. Toppmöller will want the same resilience, the same refusal to accept defeat, but without the need for such late heroics.
After Prague, though, one thing is clear: this Lens side has rediscovered a taste for big European nights. The question now is how far that spirit can carry them, both at home and across the continent.
