Linas (France) (AFP)

"We must not hurt them, we have the Champions League to win behind": like the left side Hermann Colin Kouassi, the players of Linas-Montlhéry are faced with a dilemma as they confront their team at heart, Paris SG Sunday in the Coupe de France.

In this club of Regional 1 (6th division) which brings together Linas and Montlhéry, two cities of Essonne of approximately 7,000 inhabitants 30 kilometers from Paris, most of the players support the club of Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.

This 32nd Cup final, "this is the match of my life, the match of my dreams", rejoices Kouassi, who will have at his post the heavy responsibility of containing the Parisian offensives.

If he says "not at all" a Parisian supporter, goalkeeper Ali Lutumba also welcomes this draw thanks to which his teammates "will play against the team they support, so it's good for them. good for us. "

Captain Johan Roca even spent four years at the training center of the champion club of France, from 2000 to 2004, Ronaldinho era. "It's a lot of emotion, memories coming back, but only good memories ... in addition, I'm a fan!"

And even the coach gets started: "I am 52 years old, I have been going to the Park since I was six," explains Stéphane Cabrelli, a subscriber to the Parc des Princes. "The players we support all year round, to play against them, inevitably, it's something weird," he admits.

- In front of 15,000 spectators -

"And it's top level, so necessarily it's something that is not usual with us. It will be an apprehension, somewhere, for everyone," he adds.

Especially since the usual stadium of the club is not approved to host a meeting of this level, it is in Bondoufle, a few kilometers away, that the meeting will be played. In front of 15,000 spectators expected, unheard of for the club.

No question, however, of being overwhelmed by the issue. "We are here to win," says Johan Roca. "We don't have much chance of doing it, a slight hope, but in any case we will not give up anything."

To "create the feat", as the porter Lutumba says, Essonne amateurs have significantly changed their training program, with three sessions last week, despite Christmas, and four this week, around New Year, with one last set to green Saturday in Marcoussis, the usual meeting place for the XV of France. All this with a message: no excess during the holidays.

- "Play 100%" -

After a preparation focused on the physical for the resumption, the amateurs made a few matches, like two oppositions to 10 against 10 of 20 minutes, Thursday evening. In which they spent themselves like children, challenging themselves and arguing over who had won.

Objective of this preparation: reduce as much as possible the difference with the physical condition of the Parisian stars, who did not resume training until Thursday, 72 hours from the match.

And, even if it was a Coupe de France match against Strasbourg which had deprived Neymar's Paris SG last year, the Linas-Montlhéry players intend to ignore the European deadline awaiting PSG, an eighth final against Dortmund, on February 18 in Germany and March 11 at the Parc des Princes.

"We will play the match 100%, it is not this match that will make them go far or not in the Champions League," defends Johan Roca.

For Linas-Montlhéry too, the rest of the season will involve challenges. Leader of its pool in Regional 1, the Essonnian club can target the climb. Without forgetting, perhaps, a future 16th final in the Coupe de France.

© 2020 AFP