After the intoxication of the D1 title acquired last year, the Parisiennes have the opportunity to pocket a Cup, the third in their history after 2010 and 2018, which would make a season cluttered by the Kheira Hamraoui case.

It's not the trophy they coveted with the most ardor, but it could give some comfort to a group shaken by the aggression suffered by the ex-Barcelona player in November and the events that followed: custody of his teammate Aminata Diallo, a suspected time, and a stinging 6-1 loss to Lyon in the league in stride.

The reigning French champions probably gave up the throne of D1 at that time.

With two days still to go, they are now five points behind OL, which they host on May 29.

The dreams of the Champions League also flew away against rivals Lyon, superior at the end of April in the semi-finals (3-2 then 2-1), and the Coupe de France appears in this context as a happy parenthesis or, at least, a lifeline to avoid a white season.

Kadidiatou Diani (right) hugs her Paris Saint-Germain attacking partner Marie-Antoinette Katoto during a match against Marseille in Paris on April 22, 2018 FRANCK FIFE AFP/Archives

At the end of January, it was in this competition that PSG achieved the biggest coup of their season, knocking out Lyon 3-0 in the round of 16 thanks to their attacking stars Sandy Baltimore, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie Antoinette Katoto.

Yzeure like Le Mans

The seeds of discord were however already sown in the team around Hamraoui, holder that day but snubbed by part of the locker room, who criticized him for his suspicious attitude towards Diallo in front of the investigators.

Relations did not warm up, on the contrary.

The 32-year-old midfielder has been training away from the group since her altercation with a partner three weeks ago and will not be traveling to Dijon.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Kheira Hamraoui in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich on March 30, 2022 at the Parc des Princes Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

Without it, the team led by Didier Ollé-Nicolle will try to recover a Coupe de France which still belongs to Olympique Lyonnais, double title holder (2019 and 2020) in the absence of a women's edition 2020-2021, abandoned due to the health crisis.

The final, broadcast on France 4 and Eurosport, reaches out to the Parisiennes who will face the novices of Yzeure Allier Auvergne, currently third in their group in D2 and beaten 3-1 by the red lantern, Mérignac, last weekend .

The Bourbonnais club reached the first final in its history without facing the slightest representative of the elite and its chances of success appear extremely slim, thirteen years after the first and last appearance of a D2 club at this level (defeat of Le Mans in 2009 against Montpellier).

The players of Yzeure in training on May 11, 2022 in Yzeure, in the Allier THIERRY ZOCCOLAN AFP

But the Yzeuriennes can count on the support of more than 1,000 supporters, according to club estimates, and on their striker Seynabou Mbengue, heroine of the semi-final with her double against Nantes (2-1).

The Senegalese with the size of Petit Poucet (1.64m and 55 kg) has scored around twenty goals this season in all competitions and will carry some of the Yzeurian hopes against the band led by Katoto, expected as the star of the Bleues this summer in the euro.

© 2022 AFP