Ligue 1 is losing members. Confident in front of his audience and much more enterprising than his rival at the top, Bastia very logically beat Clermont (2-0) Sunday at the Armand Cesari stadium and qualified for the 8th finals of the Coupe de France . Despite its relegation status in L2 (18th), Sporting was superior to its opponent from the start of the match and created many opportunities. The Corsicans therefore opened the scoring without surprise in the 25th minute, on a beautiful sequence of control of the chest-strike from the left of center-forward Benjamin Santelli. At the break, the Clermontois, 16th in Ligue 1, had not had the slightest clear opportunity, with a single strike, not on target. They did a little more afterwards, but their only really dangerous opportunity came onlyin the 83rd minute, with a shot from Pierre-Yves Hamel, blocked by Johnny Placide.
But in the meantime, the Corsicans had made the break, in the 70th minute on a corner from Salles-Lamonge. After a deflection of Santelli's header at the near post, it was captain Antony Rebic who pushed the ball behind the line (2-0) and definitively validated Sporting's qualification. At the same time, archi-domineering but very clumsy, Rennes was eliminated by a valiant team from Nancy (L2), who won on penalties (1-1, 4 tab to 3). With a very reshuffled team between the injured, the players suffering from Covid and those who left for the African Cup of Nations, Stade Rennais fell into the trap of the ASNL, which was also very diminished. As in the previous round where they qualified on penalties in Troyes (L1) after finishing the match at eight, the Lorraine,last in Ligue 2, have yet accomplished a miracle against the fourth in L1.
Valletta, hero of Nancy
They can thank their goalkeeper Baptiste Valette, author of several decisive saves during the match (18th, 33rd, 38th, 81st) before pushing back 3 of the 6 Rennes attempts during the penalty shoot-out. Dominated by the Bretons, the Nancéiens had long resisted thanks to Valette ... and to the clumsiness of Sehrou Guirassy. The Rennes striker indeed missed a penalty by shooting far above (30th), before hitting the opposing goalkeeper (38th), missing the frame in an ideal position (40th, 51st) or shooting at the post ( 46th). Jérémy Doku then thought he had done the hard part by opening the scoring logically shortly before the hour mark with a nice curled shot from the left (58th). But the ASNL hung on and managed to equalize against the run of the game thanks to a header from Mickaël Biron (1-1, 78th). Nancy,still coached by Benoît Pedretti, who announced at the end of December that he wanted to end the interim he has been on the bench since the end of September, then resisted before making the difference during the penalty shoot-out marked in particular by failures from Rennes Gaëtan Laborde and Loïc Badé.
Thanks to a splendid goal from Serbian defender Ristic, Montpellier logically qualified for the round of 16 by dismissing Strasbourg (1-0), another Ligue 1 club, at Mosson.
The short winter break has not altered the dynamics of Montpellier, semi-finalists last season.
Since its defeat (1-0) to Lyon at the end of November, Olivier Dall'Oglio's team has chained six consecutive victories, in all competitions.
Strasbourg falls again in front of Montpellier, like last season.
In January 2021, the Alsatian team fell to La Meinau (2-0) in the 32nd final.
Sunday, the trio of attackers formed by Kévin Gameiro, Habibou Diallo and Ludovic Ajorque never really weighed on the defense of Montpellier, sovereign.
Montpellier wins the L1 duel
Montpellier, again master of his subject at home, struck the first in the 20th minute, shortly after a great opportunity from Elye Wahi (17th). Defender Mihailo Ristic concretized the Hérault domination with a powerful and limpid strike from 25 meters. The Serbian international scored his second goal of the season, ten days after having already scored against Angers (4-1). Stifled by the collective control of Montpellier, Strasbourg did not exist much in the first period. Julien Stéphan's team, absent because of a Covid-19 contamination, even spoiled an equalizer ball by his striker Habibou Diallo (45th). The Senegalese international sent a penalty, obtained for an involuntary hand fault by Nicolas Cozza, clearly above the crossbar. Montpellier s'is provided the best opportunities throughout the second period thanks in particular to strikes from Ristic (57th) and Arnaud Souquet (67th), but never managed to take cover. If he suffered at the end of the match, especially after the entry into play of the Alsatian midfielder Adrien Thomasson, he did not really tremble to obtain his qualification.
