The restaurants and cinema of Puy-en-Velay must have sounded very hollow this Thursday evening.
Because if the small town of Haute-Loire has 19,000 inhabitants, the AS Saint-Étienne venue had 31,414 spectators.
More than a hundred coaches had been chartered from the capital of the Routes of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle to travel the 70 km to the Chaudron.
After Milan two weeks ago in the Europa League, at the Parc des Princes on Sunday in the championship, the 200 Rennes supporters certainly did not perceive a glaring difference and were undoubtedly struck by these two kops filled to the brim to encourage the Ponots.
“A great crowd,” says Breton coach Julien Stephan.
“Exceptional”, according to local coach Stéphane Dief.
His players loved it, like captain Mehdi Beneddine: “In one match, I'm addicted, I want to relive that, I'm addicted!
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The Puy adventure began on September 30 with a 19-0 card during the 4th round against FC Aurec (D1 District).
The first quick goal of Rennes (Theate 9th) raised fears of a diametrically opposite end.
On the contrary, he did not at all deprive the public of the prospect of an exploit.
“When we look back on it, we’ll say to ourselves that we experienced something crazy”
The second in group A of National 2 managed to shake the seventh in Ligue 1 thanks to some well-felt banderillas, notably a volley from Mehdi Beneddine (36th) just over.
In the process, the two corners sent songs back and forth with a fervor that the regulars of the place, the Magic Fans and the Green Angels, would not have denied.
And what about the crazy clamor which accompanied the reduction of the score signed by Bryan Adinany (62nd), ten minutes after Benjamin Bourigeaud's penalty who certainly thought he had killed the suspense?
“I suddenly felt a dull noise,” said the Altiligère striker after the game.
I had chills.
When we look back on it in ten years, we will say that we experienced something crazy.
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Despite a contested end to the match in an incandescent atmosphere, Little Thumb definitively said goodbye to his dream of a semi-final when Bourigeaud closed the score (81st).
This did not stop the stadium from continuing to sing at the top of their lungs to thank the Ponots.
Number 10 Jules Meyer loved the atmosphere: “Playing in front of 30,000 people, you don't experience that every day, it was exceptional.
It’s a lot of pride for all of us.
» Especially since Puy made Julien Stephan's training doubtful: “We knew that it was a team that had to be taken seriously.
It demonstrated a level above National 2 with players full of talent and generosity.
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“The stadium vibrated, that was the goal”
Coach Stéphane Dief appreciated the spectacle in the stands as much as the performance of his players: “The stadium vibrated, that was the objective.
I told the players at half-time that it was a big night crowd and that they wouldn't let us go.
Of course, there are regrets but above all there is pride because we played the match we wanted to play.
All the planets had to be aligned tonight, one or two were missing..."
For its next home match, a derby on March 15 against Chamalières, Le Puy will return to its Stade Massot and its average attendance of 600 spectators.
Unless some people desert the cinema and restaurants to inflate this figure.
Stéphane Dief hopes so: “If the craze can last a little bit…”