The affair caused such a furor and the fallout will result in an uncomfortable evening for all concerned. Lens will feel particularly aggrieved if they get knocked out of the cup by PSG as the Paris club had originally been barred from the tournament.
The arguments will rage across France and the whole "Affaire de la Banderole" will re-ignite once again as the match approaches. I was at the Stade de France for that match and know the feelings generated by the banner. The ironic thing is that the stadium was awash with slogans denouncing racism at football matches. Unfortunately the offending banner was all but placed across them.
As I watched the PSG v Nancy game this evening the French commentators mentioned the affair of the banderole many times as the result became obvious. It clearly has not gone away.
All true football fans can only hope that the match passes without further incident and that the clubs can find some way of putting the affair behind them. The people from the north are proud of their area, and the insults were strong, highly offensive, and couldn't have been more public.
Maybe the lesson here is if a club is barred from a competition, leave it that way otherwise "sods" law will no doubt kick in, as it has done here. It just had to happen didn't it?
So it's PSG v Lens in the same competition. Lens of course are not only still hurt by the insults, but they only lost the cup to a last minute, controversial PSG penalty and are playing in Ligue 2 this season courtesy of PSG's last day survival act.
Should be interesting. The two teams are scheduled to play sometime in January 2009.
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