It’s a match that will leave Habib Beye on alert and perhaps give hope to his opponents. The lesson is that when he is not having a big night, the Red Star can also be punished. After Goal FC (3-1 on August 18 during the 2nd day) and Dijon (3-1, on November 24 during the 14th day), Rouen is therefore the third team this season to bring down the undisputed leader of National.
In the standings, Red Star nevertheless still has a comfortable lead with five points ahead of Niort (2nd) and seven over Martigues (3rd) with one more match to play (reception of Goal FC, February 27, at Bauer) .
But this Monday evening, Habib Beye’s team was pushed hard by Rouen. The hero of the Coupe de France, winner of Toulouse and Monaco, who will play his quarter-final on February 28 against Valenciennes (L2), has once again set the old Robert-Diochon stadium on fire. This season, we haven’t seen Red Star put in so much difficulty. Less comfortable away (1 defeat and 4 draws in its last 5 trips) than at Bauer where it won everything in its path, the Red Star did not, this time, manage to get out of it like 15 days ago in Sochaux (2-2 after being down 2-0 and equalizing in the 96th minute).
For an hour, goalkeeper Quentin Beunardeau, called upon for long shots, showed himself, as often, to be impeccable, on attempts by Loppy (17th), Benkaïd (24th), Ouadah (26th) or Mion (48th). But the desire shown by Rouen ended up materializing. After finding the crossbar (60th), Bezzekhami logically rewards his team (1-0, 63rd).
This goal at least had the merit of waking up the Red Star. But if Ndoye then Dembi saw their heads pushed back by the crossbar (73rd), Beunardeau achieved a new feat by diverting Ouadah’s point blank shot (84th) to avoid the 2-0.
Red Star will host Le Mans on Friday, which dismissed its coach Réginald Ray on Monday.
Match sheet
ROUEN – RED STAR : 1-0 (0-0) ;
But. Bezzekhami (63e).
Red Star: Beunardeau – Meyapya, Kouagba (cap.), Gozzi (El Hriti, 80th) – Cissé, Dembi, Hachem, (Doucouré, 80th) Durand (Fall, 80th) – Botella (Benali, 59th), Anani (Ndoye, 67th), Ifnaoui. Enter. :Beye.
