Sunday, January 8, 2018

Coupe de France, Round of 64

Stade Rennais FC 1 - 6 Paris Saint-Germain

Sabri Lamouchi (Stade Rennais coach): "Paris didn't have to try too hard. They have such a good team, even though they only returned to training four days ago. But we made things easy for them. Did we do better in the second half? Maybe, but Paris were 4-0 up away from home. It was a tough night but there is one positive point: our 'keeper played extremely well despite conceding six goals. He made some stunning saves and without him, the scoreline would have been even wider."

Unai Emery (Paris Saint-Germain coach): "It's a good start to the year after the Christmas break. The team did exactly what we'd set out in our plan. We've been working on this game since Wednesday. Every match is important, in every competition. The Coupe de France is very important for us. We showed today that we will do our best to win this competition. We will keep working hard to be in top form for the two matches against Real Madrid. January is a very important month for us to get ready."

Olympique de Marseille 1 - 0 Valenciennes FC (a.e.t)

Rudi Garcia (Olympique de Marseille coach): "We got the job done. In the Cup, there are two kinds of teams: those who go into the draw for the next round and those who don't. We could have been better with the final ball and with our finishing, but we couldn't inject that much rhythm as we have to think about our league match against Rennes next Saturday. The lads worked very hard in our training camp this week."

US Granville 2 - 1 Girondins de Bordeaux (a.e.t.)

Johan Gallon (US Granville coach): "It's fantastic, it's fabulous. Am I Stunned? Yes. Stunned, moved - and exhausted. We put a lot of work in. We didn't have holidays. And when I think about the text message my wife sent me: 'I fell like you're going to pull it off. You've worked so hard - you will be rewarded', there you go."  

Jocelyn Gourvennec (Girondins de Bordeaux coach): "We were very good in the second half; we conceded just the one chance. We can blame ourselves for not making the break - we had the chances to score a second. And then they score in the 94^th minute for a last-gasp win. That goal really boosted Granville. The way things played out was really incredible. Unbelievable. We didn't get the result but the elimination isn't everything. We did a week's worth of good work and the lads got some freshness back. We had more dynamism and strength, but the match played out on a tiny detail."

AS Saint-Etienne 2 - 0 Nîmes Olympique

Jean-Louis Gasset (AS Saint-Etienne coach): "That's reassuring! We couldn't afford to slip up. But it's only a Coupe de France match; it doesn't win us any points in the league. We'll need to do better next week against Toulouse and create more chances, because it wasn't enough tonight. But this win will allow us to work more calmly and develop the mentality we have worked on in our training camp. We mustn't forget that a lot of factors were in our favour; they had someone sent off and we still needed to push our luck. The matches against Toulouse and Metz will be important. We need to make progress step by step. It's great that Robert Beric scored in his first match back at the club, even if he is still not at 100%."