Lens boss Pierre Sage conceded the Ligue 1 title race to Paris Saint-Germain despite watching his team defeat Nantes 1-0 on Friday, a result that relegated the eight-time champions.
Sixteen-year-old Mezian Mesloub scored with his first touch after replacing Abdallah Sima as a 79th-minute substitute as Lens earned a narrow win at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
At 16 years and 181 days old, he is the third-youngest goalscorer for Lens in Ligue 1 over the last 75 years, behind Richard Krawczyk (16 years and 107 days) and Michel Margottin (16 years and 160 days).
His goal moved Lens within three points of leaders PSG, although Luis Enrique's team will restore their six-point cushion if they beat Brest on Sunday, with both teams then having two more games to play.
The Opta supercomputer assigns PSG a 99.3% chance of retaining their crown, with Lens only lifting the trophy in 0.7% of scenarios, and Sage sees a fightback as unlikely.
Instead, he is focused on the fact Lens are now guaranteed to finish in the top two and will return to the Champions League after going out in the group stage in 2023-24.
"The Champions League is good; second place is validated and now we have to win the Coupe de France," Sage told Ligue 1+.
"We tried to push PSG to their limits. We missed a few chances in the season; we were not perfect. Congratulations to them, they won the title, I think."
Mezian Mesloub leading the clap for the first time! What a night for him. pic.twitter.com/SF7pdoQepx
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) May 9, 2026
Nantes, meanwhile, saw their relegation back to Ligue 2 confirmed after 13 years in the top flight, and their visibly upset head coach Vahid Halilhodzic walked out of his post-match press conference early.
Asked for his thoughts on Nantes' relegation, Halilhodzic said: "Deep sadness... I am no longer able to speak.
"It's not that I refuse, but I'm not capable. We are all sad, for Nantes, for all of us. It's very difficult, excuse me."