PARIS (Reuters) – Lois Openda’s stunning return to form continued when the Belgium striker’s double helped RC Lens move up to second in Ligue 1 with a 3-0 home victory against bottom side Angers on Saturday.
Openda, who last weekend ended a two-month scoreless period by netting a hat-trick in five minutes against Clermont, struck both sides of the interval after Sekou Fofana’s opener.
The result put Lens on 57 points from 28 games, nine behind leaders Paris St Germain who host Stade Rennais on Sunday, and one ahead of Olympique de Marseille.
Marseille travel to Stade de Reims on Sunday.
Angers, on 10 points, have now lost 22 games this season.
Fofana found the back of the net on 26 minutes with a low shot and Openda doubled the tally four minutes later from close range after being set up by Adrien Thomasson.
Openda was at it again soon after the interval when he collected Jonathan Gradit’s pass to score his fifth goal in two games.
The 23-year-old has now scored 14 goals in Ligue 1 this season, a tally last reached by a Lens player in 1997-98 by Anto Drobnjak.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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