Le Puy, Red Star cause French Cup upsets to reach last 16
PARIS (AP) — Fourth-tier Le Puy and third-tier Red Star caused French Cup upsets by beating first-division sides to reach the last 16 on Saturday.
After Red Star won 3-2 at home to Lens, tiny Le Puy followed up by handing Lorient a 1-0 loss to add to its relegation problems.
Northern side Lens is fifth in the top flight, and led 2-1 with seven minutes left only for two substitutes to send Parisian-based Red Star through.
Midfielder Diego Michel equalized in the 83rd minute before Alan Dzabana scored a timely first goal for the club with a last-minute winner.
“Bravo to Red Star. We need to accept this defeat and focus on the league. Maybe we thought we had done the hard work (at 2-1 up),” Lens coach Franck Haise said. “They stayed in the game, they kept believing.”
Dzabana joined Red Star this season on loan from Le Havre.
Lenny Joseph, a 20-year-old midfielder, netted in the 61st for semi-professional side Le Puy, which is in south-central France’s Auvergne region, more famed for its hearty cuisine than its soccer.
Later Saturday, title-holder Paris Saint-Germain welcomed back winger Angel Di Maria for the trip to Brest and Lyon hosted second-tier Sochaux.
Montpellier squeezed through 2-1 away to third-tier Ales, thanks to a late winner from striker Gaetan Laborde.
But Metz, which is sixth in Ligue 1, had a comfortable afternoon winning 4-0 at second-tier Valenciennes.
Fourth-tier Rumilly Vallieres, which plays against Marseille, Monaco and Lyon’s reserve sides in its division, knocked out third-tier Annecy on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
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