OM boss Igor Tudor was clearly stunned by his side's elimination by Annecy in the Coupe de France quarters on Wednesday, but gave the Ligue 2 BKT outfit their due after a massive performance saw them prevail 7-6 (2-2) on penalties at the Orange Vélodrome.
Olympique de Marseille's imperious run in the Coupe de France - which had seen them bundle Paris Saint-Germain out of the competition - came to a sudden halt on Wednesday night as Ligue 2 BKT side Annecy played the fairytale card in a packed Vélodrome.
In a see-sawing encounter, OM took the lead before going 2-1 down - and then forced the shoot-out with a last-gasp leveller from François Mughe (90'+6) after Alexis Sanchez had missed a penalty. But just as it seemed that the momentum was with the southern giants, missed penalties from Nunno Tavares and Leonardo Balerdi saw Annecy's dream come true.
Tudor: 'Madness'
"It's a big disappointment, and very saddening," lamented OM boss Igor Tudor in the wake of the loss. "We have just been knocked out of a competition in which we had eliminated PSG and Rennes. It's madness. Apart from a few details, I find it difficult to explain that at the moment. There's no anger, just a great sadness. I don't think the players underestimated the opponents."
As stunned as Tudor was, however, he took pains to give Annecy credit for their performance.
"Annecy played a great match, at a level I couldn't imagine for an Ligue 2 team," he said. "On our side, everything that could go wrong went wrong. Our flaws came to the surface. Conceding two goals at home, that's not justifiable. And up front, we couldn't make the difference. They defended tooth and nail, we hit the post, had chances, missed a penalty... They gave everything and succeeded. Clearly, when you're eliminated by a Ligue 2 team, you've done badly. We believed in our chances, and we're disappointed."
