Angers (AFP)
Nine goals in the same match! Stade Rennes, holder of the Coupe de France title, qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2020 edition after a crazy match Tuesday in Angers (5-4 ap), winning on a clear strike from Jérémy Gélin in overtime.
It will not be this time: SCO Angers, finalist of the Coupe de France in 2017, has never managed to beat its Breton neighbor since its rise in Ligue 1 in 2015, neither in this competition nor in the championship, and he had the misfortune to always run after the score Tuesday evening in a breathless match.
For Rennes, this debauchery of energy is however likely to be expensive Friday during a derby with a high stake in L1 against Nantes residents rested, especially as Clément Grenier, returned to the 72nd after weeks of absence for injury, must have come out 10 minutes later with his head down.
At the Raymond-Kopa stadium, the Breton club led for a long time thanks to a goal from James Léa-Siliki (37th) then a double from M'Baye Niang (42nd, 61st sp).
But Angers maintained hope, snatching the overtime on two goals from Sada Thioub (52nd, 85th) then a penalty from Stéphane Bahoken (89th), before returning again to the score in overtime, Mathias Pereira Lage (105th + 1) responding to Yann Gboho (101st), before Jérémy Gélin's winning stroke (110th).
This offensive deluge badly translates the solidity of the Angevin defense, altered but then just as effective as against Marseille on Saturday in L1 (0-0).
- Panic -
And it was necessary for Stade Rennes to really work to take the advantage. First thanks to a ride by young Yann Gboho, who erased several defenders to slip into the area: badly pushed back by goalkeeper Petkovic, the ball landed in the feet of Léa-Siliki, who scored his first goal in red and black (0-1, 37th).
Five minutes later, the same Gboho launched into the race Niang, who lobbed Petkovic with a small dive ball (0-2, 42nd).
But the Angevins then went wild, causing panic in the Rennes defense, until being rewarded thanks to Thioub, returned at the break (1-2, 52nd).
The Angevine charge continued, pushed by invigorated supporters, but quickly cooled by a generous penalty obtained and transformed by Niang, after a nice overflow from Traoré (1-3, 59th).
While tension was mounting in the last minutes of regulation time, Thioub revived his team with a nice left shot after a cushioning of the chest (2-3, 85th). Three minutes later, Bahoken pulled out the extra time by transforming a whistled penalty for a foul by Joris Gnagnon (3-3, 88th).
Rennes thought they were going out when Gboho gave the advantage to their own on a good pass behind Romain Del Castillo (4-3, 102nd). But Mathias Pereira Lage responded tac to tac five minutes later on a similar move on the other side (4-4, 105th + 1).
And even if the rhythm remained removed until the end, it was finally an instant recovery of Gelin at 25 meters in full skylight (4-5, 110th) which kept Rennes on the road to the Stade de France.
© 2020 AFP