Football: Bordeaux, the first Ligue 1 club eliminated from the Coupe de France

There was no miracle. Bordeaux, seriously diminished by the multiplication of cases of Covid-19 in its ranks (twenty-one players affected), was eliminated, Sunday, January 2, by Brest (3-0), in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France de soccer.

The Girondins had made the trip to Finistère with only seven of their usual professional players and thirteen youngsters.

Bordeaux conceded a penalty in the 35^e minute: his young defender Tijany Atallah, 18 years old and not the slightest minute disputed with the professionals, came late in the area on Romain Faivre.

A second penalty, conceded at 81^e minute, came to destroy any hope of a return to the score of the Bordelais, the Brestois definitively pushing the corner by scoring a third goal at the very end of the match (90^e+4).

In recent days, the club management had tried in vain to postpone this meeting, but the French Football Federation (FFF), organizer of the competition, had been inflexible.

To avoid any package from Bordeaux or from another club affected by Covid-19, the FFF however relaxed its regulations on Friday by suspending on an exceptional basis the article requiring the presence “On the scoresheet of at least seven players who took part in one of the last two official matches played by [l’]first team “, thus allowing a club to draw more widely from its reserve team and its youth teams.

• Nantes without shaking too much

Another Ligue 1 club, FC Nantes, did not tremble too much, but if it took a bit of a struggle. At home, against Vitré, a club playing in National 2 (the fourth division), the Canaries dominated the match and secured their qualification by winning 2-0. But they did not open the scoring until the 25^e minute, before going definitely out of range at 68^e minute. “It is a deserved qualification but which took a long time to take shape, recognized Antoine Kombouaré the Nantes coach. We weren’t able to score faster and worsen the score. Vitré knew how to make the suspense last. At the slightest relaxation, we could have been punished ”.

AS Cannes (National 3) - Toulouse (Ligue 2): 0-1
Versailles 78 (National 2) - La Roche VF (National 3): 4 - 0