It works for OL. Pierre Sage’s players got the better of Bergerac (1-2), a National 2 club (4th division), this Friday in Limoges for the first match of the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. Newcomer Malick Fofana opened the scoring before Maxence Caqueret’s winning goal. Between the two, OL-trained player Romain Escarpit scored and Christian Gyeboaho was shown… a red card. Seven matches on the menu on Saturday, including a Bordeaux (L2)-Nice and Orléans (N)-PSG duel.
On a pitch in questionable condition, the Lyonnais had difficulty getting into their match. The Bergerac players quickly understood that the match was going to go through defense in order to create an exploit. They suffered from the Lyon waves which became more and more dangerous before finally breaking. On a lost ball in the middle of the field, the Bergerac defense found itself numerically inferior on a counterattack. Served on the right in the penalty area, Alexandre Lacazette delivered perfectly for the neo-Gone Malick Fofana who had followed well and was alone at the penalty spot (0-1, 37th).
But it didn’t take long for the magic of the Cup to return. Just before the break, Escarpit, the Bergerac scorer, trained at OL, equalized to give a completely different twist to this meeting. M’laab crossed perfectly and the Escarpit took the latter back at full length to bring his team back level (1-1, 45th). Upon returning from the locker room, the N2 players made no secret of playing the qualification. They continued to project themselves and tried their luck near the surface without ever really worrying the Lyon goalkeeper, Anthony Lopes. The turning point of the match came with an innocuous action in midfield.
In a duel for the ball, Gyeboaho crushed Corentin Tolisso’s foot and received a red card (64th) which changed the appearance of this meeting. With numerical superiority, the Lyonnais finally found the fault on a free kick first returned by the Bergerac defense, but it was Maxence Caqueret who was at the drop-off. With a powerful volley, he sent the ball into the back of the net to restore the advantage to his team (1-2, 78th). Dominated and diminished, the Bergerac players did not admit defeat. They continued to push until the final moments of added time but the Lyon block decided to block access to the surface.
OL therefore left Limoges with their ticket for the next round thanks to this success against a Bergerac team who left with their heads held high after this fine performance.