Champions League Matchday 3: Club Brugge vs Lens facts
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Article summary
Previous meetings, club facts and key stats ahead of this UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 game.
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Club Brugge and Lens both have three points in this season's UEFA Champions League as they meet for the first time on Matchday 3.
Previous meetings
This is the teams' first fixture.
Club Brugge won their last two matches against French opposition, both at home in the league phase of last season's Champions League – beating Monaco 4-1 and Marseille 3-0. They had been without a win in four fixtures versus Ligue 1 visitors (D2 L2).
None of Club Brugge's 27 matches against French clubs finished goalless (W9 D4 L14).
Lens have played six matches against Belgian opposition, all in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup. They knocked out Gent in the first round (1-1 a, 2-1 h aet) and Antwerp in the second (2-2 h, 3-2 a) before losing to Anderlecht in the third round (1-1 h, 0-1 a).
Lens' record against Belgian clubs is therefore W2 D3 L1; away it is W1 D1 L1.
Form guide
This is Club Brugge's 13th Champions League group stage campaign, a new Belgian record – they had been level with Anderlecht on 12 – and a ninth in 11 seasons.
Nineteenth in last season's league phase (W3 D1 L4), Club Brugge went on to lose 4-7 on aggregate to Atlético de Madrid in the knockout phase play-offs.
Having not reached the knockout rounds in their first nine campaigns in the Champions League proper, Club Brugge have progressed from the group stage/league phase in each of the last three.
This is Lens' fourth Champions League campaign and a second in four seasons. The French side were third in their section in 2023/24 – their first appearance since 2002/03, behind Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven but above Sevilla (W2 D2 L2).
Les Sang et Or lost 3-2 to Panathinaikos in the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League qualifying play-off, their last European fixtures.
Lens parted company with coach Dino Toppmöller on 15 September, appointing Yannick Cahuzac as his permanent replacement two days later.
Links and trivia
The 4-3 win at Inter on Matchday 2 means Club Brugge's last six Champions League matches have produced 31 goals, an average of 5.17 per game.
That was only Club Brugge's third win in their last 11 games in the Champions League proper (D2 L6).
Nicolò Tresoldi scored a hat-trick in Milan and was the joint-top scorer in this season's Champions League after two matches on four goals.
There has been a first-half goal in Club Brugge's last 12 Champions League games.
Club Brugge have lost only one of the 13 home matches in the Champions League proper in which they scored first (W10 D2).
Brandon Mechele needs one appearance to reach 50 in the Champions League; he would be only the second Club Brugge player to reach that total after Hans Vanaken (62).
A 3-2 win at Slavia Praha on Matchday 1 ended Lens' run of 16 away European fixtures (D7 L9) without an away victory stretching back to September 2005.
Beaten 0-2 at home by Sporting CP last time out, Les Sang et Or have not kept a clean sheet in 15 Champions League matches, since a 1-0 win at Arsenal in November 1998.
None of Lens' 20 matches in the Champions League proper finished goalless. They have led at half-time only once in those 20 fixtures.
Lens' Thorgan Hazard scored against Club Brugge in Borussia Dortmund's 3-0 Matchday 3 away win in the 2020/21 Champions League.
On this day 28 years ago Lens recorded their first win in the Champions League proper, 1-0 at home to Panathinaikos in the 1998/99 group stage.