This Wednesday evening, FC Espaly hosted Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Coupe de France. It was a match worthy of the French Cup, with the minnows putting the Parisian ogre to the sword. But logic prevailed, and there was no need for any heroics against PSG, who came from behind to claim a hard-fought 2-4 victory (Espaly/PSG video highlights). Joachim Ichane, defender for the National 3 club, spoke to beIN SPORTS after the defeat, despite his side’s achievement:
Ichane: “We cracked in the final minutes”.
You’ve done something exceptional.
Yes, I think we can be proud of ourselves despite the defeat. I think we played the right game. We took an early lead, made them doubt, and they managed to come back before half-time. And even after the 2nd goal, we came back to equalize. We cracked in the final minutes. Physically, we lost our footing. The entries on the other side hurt. But I’m very proud of the image Espaly and the Auvergne region have created.
PSG had their doubts, Safonov warmed up for the penalty shoot-out.
Of course, there were less than 10 minutes left and it was 2-2. We believed in it right to the end. But we got the goal that killed us in the end. But we have no regrets, we gave it everything we had. We’re dead, we’re finished, but it was worth it.
