Brought on in the 70th minute of RC Lens’s 3-0 defeat at Club Bruges, Algerian midfielder Yacine Titraoui looked tidy and strengthened his case for a November national team call-up.
On Wednesday evening at the Jan Breydel Stadium, RC Lens suffered a heavy Champions League defeat: 3-0 against Club Bruges on matchday 3 of the competition, reports Sport Pulse. Yet the Artésiens had 17 shots without finding a way past Yann Sommer, the Club Bruges goalkeeper. A difficult evening for the northern French club.
Those who watched the final twenty minutes saw Yacine Titraoui. The Algerian international midfielder came on in the 70th minute in place of Amadou Haidara, according to DZFoot and Sport Pulse. In 20 minutes on the pitch, he recovered 3 balls and was notably tidy in possession, the two outlets point out.
A tidy cameo amid the rout
The scoreline says nothing about his performance. With Bruges already 2-0 up, Titraoui came on to steady the Lens midfield. “Yacine Titraoui made 3 recoveries in 21 minutes and stabilised the Artésien midfield despite the heavy defeat,” Sport Pulse wrote in its match ratings.
The context makes the performance more notable. The 23-year-old was only just back from a physical unavailability picked up in league play, according to RueDesJoueurs.
Bruges left no crumbs
There is no dressing up Lens’s defeat. Club Bruges scored through Hans Vanaken (45+3), Joaquin Seys (50) and Carlos Forbs (72), according to Sport Pulse. Will Still, the RC Lens head coach, saw his side come away empty-handed despite their 17 shots.
In this collective shipwreck, the Algerian’s cameo stands out as the exception for the Artésien club.
Charleroi and the November list
The match also felt like a reunion with Belgian football for Titraoui, who spent two seasons with Sporting Charleroi before signing for Lens, recalls La Gazette du Fennec.
Above all, this eye-catching cameo strengthens his case to return to Brahim Hemdani’s Algeria squad for the November 2026 gathering, according to DZFoot. It is a case for selection, not a call-up.
RC Lens will next face Stade Brestois on matchday 8 of Ligue 1, on the weekend of 24-25 October 2026.