This year, it fell on Brest. The Breton club is the first resident of Ligue 1 (L1) to suffer the law of someone weaker than it during the 32e final of the Coupe de France. The team, which occupies 11e place in L1, was eliminated on penalties, Friday December 19, by Avranches who plays in National 2, three divisions below.
Eighth in its group in the championship, the Norman club seriously upset its opponent from the start of the match with a daring game. As soon as the 10e minute, midfielder Nassim Sabihi had found Grégoire Coudert’s right post. This first warning did not wake up Eric Roy’s men, and Julien le Cardinal was sent off for a foul as the last defender eleven minutes later, leaving his team at ten for almost 70 minutes.
To make matters worse, on the free kick that followed, Jessy Pi – former Brest player for two seasons – served Sabihi at ground level at the entrance to the area and the latter’s wrapped shot found the net for the Bretons (1-0, 23e). No doubt dulled by the excess of energy, the Avranches players nevertheless took their foot off the gas. On a magnificent cross from the outside of the left from Romain Del Castillon, Rémy Labeau-Lascary made a nice return to equalize (1-1, 34e).
At the start of the second half, Avranches pushed hard with strikes from Pi (48e) and Anas Lambrabette (64e) who put Coudert to work, while Brestois Joris Chotard saw his attempt at the entrance to the area saved on the line by defender Emeric Dudouit (71e).
Arriving at the penalty shootout, Brest was cracked by its official shooter, Del Castillo, whose full-center shot found the foot of goalkeeper Anthony Beuve. Behind, the Normans succeeded in all their shots to win 5-4 and enjoy the pleasure of playing the 16e final of the competition.
Angers is scared
Another National 2 club, Les Herbiers, almost achieved the feat against an elite team. But the Vendéens, who played outnumbered quite quickly in the second half, lost on penalties to Angers, after a goalless match (0-0, tab 6-5)
The leader of Ligue 1, Racing Club de Lens, had no trouble getting rid of Feignies-Aulnoye (3-1), also a National 2 club, in its Bollaert stadium. The Sang et Or enforced the hierarchy against the northern team, almost neighboring, thanks to goals from Rayan Fofana (17e), with a header, Saud Abdulhamid (45 + 1), with a nice left-footed shot, and Andrija Bulatovic (68e), The Entente Feignies-Aulnoye reduced the gap thanks to Nolan Bonte (85e) taking advantage of a mix-up in the Lens defense.
A week after ensuring that it finished the year at the top of Ligue 1, Racing continued its good momentum with a seventh success, and concluded a dream first part of the season.
