"Do I have to tell you the time I went to bed?" Eddy Ehlinger laughs, then pulls himself together. "We celebrated this in the locker room for an hour, and I continued the night with friends," he slips. But that's all. Such a match, it knocks out. »Especially when at 18, you are the amateur goalkeeper who makes the decisive stop in the penalty shootout to eliminate the fourth in Ligue 1, Montpellier (0-0, 5-4 tab). And offer Belfort (National 2, fourth French division) its first quarter-final of the Coupe de France in its history.
"Here, it is a modest family club in the shadow of Sochaux," slips Thomas Régnier, striker and captain of this team. There, we tipped the city into madness. It was beautiful. Seeing people in tears thanks to football in Belfort is something. "I can't even count the number of people who thanked me for stopping the strike of Damien Le Tallec (Editor's note: Montpellier's last shooter), " said Ehlinger, a civilian Staps student.
Montpellier left its € 17,000 in revenue
At the end of the match, he and his partners saw a good part of the 4,500 spectators of the Serzian stadium rushing towards the lawn. "Strangers were hugging and screaming together," said Fabrice Jacques, the club secretary. It was like New Year's party on the lawn. "
Wednesday morning, all the heroes of the previous day were able to take advantage of their emerging popularity. A physiotherapist by trade, the president of the club Jean-Paul Simon had an appointment to provide care in a retirement home. Where he was greeted by a banner to congratulate the achievement of his club.
Behind the scenes, the party was successful on all fronts. A handsome player, the Hérault club has left its share of box office receipts in Belfort, around € 17,000. In the process, the leaders set to work on the preparation of the future quarter-final. And already have an agreement in principle to play this match with Sochaux's neighbors, at the Bonal stadium.
"We hope to fill it," says Fabrice Jacques. For that, it is necessary that one takes in the drawing (Editor's note: Thursday January 30, at 8:45 pm on France 3) a team which attracts people. In the ranks of Belfort, we vote for OL, OM and PSG. “We are already so happy to be there,” continues Thomas Régnier. If we can also face one of these big teams, it would be great. "