first surprise, Montpellier falls on Pau

Already struggling in the league – just one win in the last nine matchdays – Montpellier did not take advantage of the Coupe de France to recover their health. Away in Pau (13th in Ligue 2), Héraultais suffered the first elimination of an elite team against a lower league team.

Romain Pitau’s team, despite possession largely in their favor, lost (2-1) at the Nouste Camp stadium, this Friday evening, at the start of the 32nd final.

Surprised by Pau in the first period (1-0, 25th), Montpellier had found the resource to equalize thanks to Valère Germain (1-1, 70th). But they were crucified by George’s goal (2-1, 81st) with less than ten minutes remaining.

It angers Strasbourg on penalties

In addition to Montpellier, two other poorly classified Ligue 1s could find a smile again, at least temporarily, given that Angers, red lantern, visited Strasbourg, the 19th.

A scary match… which didn’t score goals at the La Meinau stadium (0-0). The decision was then made on penalties, and these were fatal for the Alsatians, defeated 5-4 after the rejection of Bellegarde and Nyamsi. On the Angevin side, only Bentaleb did not find the target. Enough to allow the last of Ligue 1 to take a new turn in this 2022-2023 edition.

Instead, the road ends there for Strasbourg, who will focus exclusively on the maintenance fight, tougher than ever with four runs at the end of the season.

Applies to Grenoble and the PFC

At least three teams from Ligue 2 will therefore be present for the round of 16, since two duels in this division took place at the same time.

And both turned in favor of the team in reception: Grenoble thus beat Nîmes on the wire (1-0, 88th) while Paris FC, after conceding the opening goal (0-1, 25th), promptly replicated (1-1, 28th) first break after the break (2-1, 49th then 3-1, 69th) against Valenciennes.