Coupe de la ligue. Nearly a year and a half before the lost Coupe de France final, the “Rouge et Noir” are facing Guingamp again this Wednesday. For Frédéric Antonetti, an occasion to give a chance to his youngsters, and for the players, an occasion to offer a little revenge to their supporters.
May 9, 2009, the day the final was lost against Guingamp isn’t forgotten. Memories came back to surface after the Coupe de la Ligue draw offered Rennes a travel to Le Roudourou, against Guingamp now playing in the National. Stuck between two away games in Paris and Nice, this Round of 32 game has a clear taste of revenge.
« I’ve been told about it already, many people are taking this game really at heart. We will have to be consistent on the pitch”, explains Johann Carrasso, arrived from Montpellier this summer and expected to start the game in the Rennes goals. “People consider it as a big, big game” he adds. On the pitch that night, Romain Danzé hasn’t forgotten either, what was the « biggest event » in his life so far. “Even if we win, it will not bring the cup back”, the Douarnenez man admits. But the right back also knows how this Guingamp-Rennes is rated by the supporters. “There have been lots of things going on between Rennes and Guingamp fans. After the final, the Rennes fan have really suffered, so if they can make up for it even a tiny little bit on Wednesday, we have to offer them this chance.”
For Frédéric Antonetti, the stakes are elsewhere: « if I start reasoning like a fan, there’s no way to succeed. I’m not here to comment the recent or ancient history of the club. We want to qualify, end of…” This round of 32 game will be “a derby”, for sure, but is attention is otherly focused: “I’m interested to see how my young players react in a particular and difficult context”. Samuel Souprayen, Tongo Hamed Doumbia, John Boye or Abdoul Camara are expected to start the game at the Roudourou.
The Coupe de la Ligue is an opportunity to those that don’t play much. “And if a player is brilliant, he can open himself a first team position”, the Corsican manager promises, remembering the example of Hugo Lloris in Nice. The Coupe de la Ligue is also the competition in which Romain Danzé discovered professional football (October 2006 in Lille, Victory 2-0 after extra time). “This was my first ever professional game, and I had not right to fail. All in all, it did not go that badly.”, he smiles, 95 Ligue 1 games later.
The Coupe de la Ligue is also a way to reach Europe in five games. “I rate it at the same level as the Coupe de France, Frédéric Antonetti explains, he who reached the final with Nice in 2006. The Coupe de la Ligue was the first trophy Lyon ever won (i.e: in 2001), it can give a dynamic to a club.”
Nicolas Auffray - Le Mensuel de Rennes
Picture: www.rennes.lemensuel.com
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