Frederic Antonetti’s Stade Rennais’ blushes were saved after the Bretons held on to a 3-2 win over newly-promoted Ligue 1 side, Evian TG in the first pre-quarterfinal of this season’s Coupe de France
A Sidney Govou own goal along with strikes from Julien Feret and Yacine Brahimi made Stade Rennais the first side to progress to the quarterfinals of this season’s Coupe de France. However, the task was certainly not easy for the Bretons who saw Evian score
two goals in as many minutes.
Luckily for Rennais, Evian were unable to force the game into extra time despite being by far the better side for most part of the second half.
Due to the frosty conditions, all of the Coupe de France Round of 16 games had been postponed. However, with Rennais safe from those tricky conditions, LFP and FFF gave the nod for the tie to go ahead.
Coming into this game, both Stade Rennais and Evian TG had seen a poor run of results which made the affair even feistier as both teams wanted to go through to the next round. Ahead of the game, Frederic Antonetti had already said that his side needed to
win the game against the Ligue 1 debutants.
Currently in sixth place in the Ligue 1 standings, Rennais might fall short of a place in Europe next season especially if the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 and LOSC Lille maintain pace over the top two sides (Paris Saint-Germain and
Montpellier Herault).
Playing in the final and winning it might be Rennais’ only best hope for a European adventure next season.
However, if any thoughts of the visitors getting an easier ride prevailed initially, they were completely washed out by the visitors.
On-song striker, Jires Kembo-Ekoko got the home side to a great start when his curling effort was deflected off http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sidney-Govou-c33474 beyond the Evian goalkeeper in the 21st minute. With just 20 minutes left for the half-time, Stade Rennais pressed further
in order to take the game beyond the visitors.
In the second-half, Stade Rennais seemed to be going all the way especially when Julien Feret doubled his side’s lead in the 54th minute. Evian’s fate seemed to have sealed when Yacine Brahimi scored another goal in the 68th minute.
His long-distance shot was unstoppable and so were Rennais’ chances of playing in the quarterfinals.
However, if Evian knew that they were about to crash out of the competition, Pablo Correa’s side made sure that they bow out in style.
Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik brought own Nicolas Farina and Kévin Bérigaud scored from the spot in the 70th minute. Two minutes later, Evian gave the travelling supporters a glimmer of hope thanks to a clinical finish by Sidney Govou.
However, Stade Rennais held on to their lead. Evian captain Cedric http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899.
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