The people of Toulouse want to do better than the 2009-2010 generation, that of Mauro Cetto, André-Pierre Gignac, Fodé Mansaré or Paulo Machado. European that season thanks to its victory in the Coupe de France, TFC finished 3rd in its Europa League group.
More than ten years later, the Violets qualified for the play-offs of the same competition thanks to their good group stage. Second behind Liverpool, Toulouse will once again challenge Benfica Lisbon, this Thursday February 22.
While they lost in the first leg in added time, on a penalty from former Parisian Angel Di Maria (90 + 8, 2-1 defeat), Guillaume Restes’ teammates “only” need a victory by two goals at the Stadium in order to qualify for the first time in their history in the round of 16 of a European competition.
The TFC, currently in the soft underbelly of Ligue 1 (13th) and victorious in Monaco this weekend (1-2), will need an excellent Thijs Dallinga, author of two very good matches against Liverpool in the group, to take out the Portuguese. For its part, Benfica, led by its nuggets Antonio Silva (21 years old) and João Neves (19 years old), is one of the outsiders for the final victory.
Third in their Champions League group behind Real Sociedad and Inter Milan, the Eagles, leaders of the Portuguese championship, have been drafted into the Europa League and have the weapons to aim higher. But their coach, Roger Schmidt, wants to avoid the Toulouse trap: “Win the Europa League? Our ambition is to win in the championship. It’s international football, we must always respect the opponent, we must believe in ourselves. » A way of putting pressure on the TFC, too.
The Toulouse-Benfica match will kick off on Thursday February 22 at 6:45 p.m. on RMC Sport Live 5.
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