There was no miracle. Bordeaux, seriously diminished because of the multiplication of cases of Covid in its ranks (21 players affected), was eliminated, Sunday, January 2, by Brest (3-0) in the round of 16 of the French Football Cup.
The Girondins had made the trip to Finistère with only seven of their usual professional players and thirteen youngsters.
Bordeaux conceded a penalty in the 35th minute: its young defender Tijany Atallah, 18 years old and not the slightest minute disputed with the professionals, came late in the box on Romain Faivre.
A second penalty, conceded at 81st minute, came to destroy any hope of a return of the Bordelais to the score, the Brestois definitively pushing the corner by scoring a third goal at the very end of the match (90th + 4).
In recent days, the club management had tried in vain to postpone this meeting, but the French Football Federation (FFF), organizer of the event, had been inflexible.
To avoid any package from Bordeaux or from another club affected by Covid-19, the FFF however relaxed its regulations on Friday by suspending on an exceptional basis the article requiring the presence “On the scoresheet of at least seven players who took part in one of the last two official matches played by their first team”, thus allowing a club to draw more widely from its reserve team and its youth teams.
Another Ligue 1 club, FC Nantes, did not shake too much, but if it had to fight a little despite everything. At home, against Vitré, a club playing in National 4 (the fourth division), the Canaries dominated the match and secured their qualification by winning 2-0. But they only opened the scoring in the 25th minute, before distancing themselves in the 68th minute.
AS Cannes (National 3) – Toulouse (Ligue 2) 0 – 1
Versailles 78 (National 2) – La Roche VF (National 3) 4 – 0