A goal after additional time. Ryad Boudebouz allowed Saint-Etienne to qualify for the Coupe de France final by beating Rennes (2-1) Thursday at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.
The goal of victory in the last minute of stoppage time
Boudebouz, who came into play in the 83rd minute in place of Yann M'Vila, out of breath, found the opening after an action by William Saliba and a stint with Denis Bouanga (90 + 4). A reward for the former Montpellier, who went through the Spanish championship, recruited last summer and who has been in difficulty since the start of the season. However, the Rennais, 3rd in the championship and defending champions after defeating PSG in the final of the 2019 edition, opened the scoring against the course of the game by Mbaye Niang who transformed a penalty awarded for a foul by Saliba on Rafinha (31).
But the young Saint-Etienne defender, sold for 30 million euros to Arsenal last summer and loaned to the Greens in the process, was the big man of the evening. When he is not yet 19 ... He reacted very well to this stroke of fate by being involved in the equalization signed Timothée Kolodziejczak, from the head after a center delivered from the left wing by Loïs Diony , shifted by Saliba (43). The Stéphanois, particularly well supported by their public, who also invaded the field at the final whistle, had started the meeting well.
A first final since 1982
They would then have deserved to open the scoring on a free kick by Yohan Cabaye (12) or even on two attempts by Diony (16, 21) while Edouard Mendy saved his camp on an action by Cabaye, before Damien Da Silva does not release the ball in front of its line (18). For their part, the Bretons could have regained the advantage, but Mathieu Debuchy averted the danger in front of Niang after a cross delivered by Hamari Traoré (51) while a free kick from Benjamin Bourigeaud just passed out of the frame (85 ).
After three semi-finals lost for thirty years against Montpellier (1990), Nantes (1993) and Paris Saint-Germain (2015), it is the first time since 1982 that the Greens have reached the final of the competition where they will find their beast black, the PSG who qualified Wednesday by winning 5-1 in Lyon. In 1982, it is besides in front of the Parisian club, of another time certainly, that ASSE, led by a certain Michel Platini, was inclined to the shots on goal