Epinal (AFP)

Nothing is going well in Lille: already struggling in the league, Losc lost (2-1) to everyone's surprise on the lawn of Epinal fans (National 2), Wednesday in the eighth finals of the Cup of France.

The Mastiffs, who had however opened the scoring quickly by Loïc Rémy (8th), achieved a calamitous performance and were logically punished in the second half by an enthusiastic team.

The Spinaliens, who play three divisions below the Northerners, achieved the feat by reversing the trend in seven minutes shortly after half-time thanks to a double from Jean-Philippe Krasso (54th, 61st), for the greatest happiness spectators at the Colombière stadium.

The Losc, which remains on three consecutive defeats in the championship where it fell to seventh place, sinks a little more into doubt three days from a perilous trip to Strasbourg.

Christophe Galtier's players, already eliminated on penalties in the semi-final of the League Cup last week, now have only the championship to hope to find the European scene next season.

The evening in the Vosges cold had started ideally for Lille, who opened the scoring on their first opportunity: launched by Jonathan Bamba, Rémy cheated Jérôme Idir flat on the foot (0-1, 8th).

But that did not cool the heat of the SAS, which multiplied the situations, like the attempts of Krasso (15th), Nicolas Borodine (43rd) and Christopher Makengo who found the post (39th).

Lille side, there was almost nothing to put in the tooth except two shots on target by Luiz Araujo (26th, 45th).

The deserved reward for Epinal came just after the break: on a loss of ball from Tiago Djalo, Krasso eliminated Gabriel with a hook and placed the ball close to the left post of Maignan (1-1, 54th).

The Mastiffs finally reacted, but Bamba came up against Idir, who superbly rejected his attempt with a firm hand (58th).

And in the process, Epinal took the advantage: on a distant free kick from Jérémy Colin, Krasso jumped higher than everyone else and placed a header which hit the target (2-1, 61st).

Despite the entries of Victor Osimhen, Benjamin André and Renato Sanches, Losc failed to equalize and pitifully left the Coupe de France, while Epinal could savor the first qualification for the quarter-finals in its history.

© 2020 AFP