FC Espaly hosted Paris Saint-Germain and were hoping to achieve a feat this evening, as only the French Cup can do. And they succeeded for 88 minutes, going down 2-4 at the very end of the match (Espaly/PSG video highlights) in this round of 16. Lionel Vaillant, coach of the National 3 club, spoke to beIN SPORTS about his pride in his players, and the match itself:
Vaillant: “It came down to very little, 2-3 minutes”.
What’s the prevailing feeling?
I’m very proud to have caught up with Paris Saint-Germain, a small National 3 club. I’m very proud of my players, who showed a lot of courage. It didn’t come down to much, just 2-3 minutes. But that’s the way it is, that’s top-level soccer.
I think we gave a good account of ourselves and amateur soccer. It’s the players who should be congratulated, they’re the ones who delivered a perfect copy.
“We managed to put 2 goals past PSG, which is no mean feat”.
You put PSG in doubt, and amateur soccer has a good image thanks to your club.
Yes, that’s what we wanted. We played our cards close to our chest. We managed to put 2 goals past PSG, which is no mean feat. And we had a chance before the 3rd goal. It’ll always be a good memory, even if we’re frustrated because with 2 minutes to go, we could perhaps have hung on to something else.
But that’s soccer, it’s cruel and I have nothing to reproach them for. We can go out with our heads held high.
What do you wish for the future? Do we have to fight to stay up?
Yes, we need to use this match as a positive experience. There are a lot of good things to take away from this game, and we’ll be looking to stay up there.
