This Wednesday, in the last 16 of the Coupe de France 2024-2025, Paris Saint-Germain (1st in Ligue 1) take on FC Espaly (11th) at the Stade Marcel-Michelin (kick-off 9pm, broadcast on beIN SPORTS). Marc Bollengier (33) has been appointed referee for the match. He has extensive experience in Ligue 1, with 42 matches to his name.
The man with the whistle will be assisted by Thomas Luczynski and Yannick Boutry. The 4th referee will be Ahmed Taleb.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Bollengier at the helm, it’s to be expected that yellow cards will be handed out rather sparingly during the match. Indeed, while the national average per match is 3.53 (standard deviation 0.39), Wednesday’s referee has given an average of 3.33 yellows per match throughout his career in Ligue 1 (Transfermarkt figures). That’s very low, and let’s hope it’s thanks to dialogue and not by forgetting to protect the players.
Direct red cards –
The man on the whistle this Wednesday is also not very severe when it comes to direct exclusions, as he has a slight tendency to hand out direct red cards. In fact, Bollengier is at 0.12 exclusions per match in his career, whereas the national average per match is 0.17 (standard deviation 0.07). As long as it’s thanks to good management, so much the better. The atmosphere has to remain positive.
Second yellow cards –
Finally, Marc Bollengier has a habit of sending off a player after his first yellow card in a match, as he issued a second caution to the same player an average of 0.14 times per match. This is well above the national average of 0.09 (standard deviation 0.03). This is surprising. It’s understandable that a player has to be very careful after a caution.
Penaltys –
Finally, as far as penalties are concerned, the man on the whistle on Wednesday is higher than average with 0.45 penalties whistled per match, whereas in Ligue 1 the average is 0.34 (standard deviation of 0.08).
