Montpellier corrected in the Coupe de France by Le Puy, fourth division club

Huge disappointment for Montpellier in Haute-Loire. Le Puy Foot 43, second in its group in National 2 (4^e division) eliminated the Hérault club, bottom of Ligue 1, in 32^es of the Coupe de France final after winning 4-0 on Saturday December 21 at the Charles-Massot stadium in Puy-en-Velay. This is also no surprise. Last season, Le Puy reached the quarter-finals, eliminated by Rennes (3-1) at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne after taking out two Ligue 2 teams, Dunkerque and Laval. And in 2022-2023, the Ponots beat Nice (1-0) in 32^es of final.

This defeat nevertheless sounds like a humiliation for the Montpellier residents, as they were totally dominated by the Altiligerian team in the second half. However, Laurent Nicollin's men were the first dangerous with a shot from Jordan Ferri hitting the bar in the sixth minute during a balanced and lively first period. Montpellier could have opened the scoring on attempts by Mousa Al Tamari deflected by goalkeeper Matis Carvalho, a former substitute goalkeeper for Montpellier (23^e31^e).

It was the Ponots who finally took the advantage just before half-time through Maël Zogba after a free kick from Nicolas Pays, the Puy playmaker (43^e).

Fourth defeat for Le Havre

The second period, on the other hand, was completely controlled by Le Puy. These had chances through Renald Xhemo (58^e) and Yann Diebold (70^e) before widening the gap by Nicolas Pays served by Marvin Adelaïde in the 75th^e minute (2-0) before a third goal scored by Yann Diebold who headed a cross delivered from the left wing by Moussa Faty (78^e). In the final moments, Davel Mayela, after a first shot from Pays, brought the score to 4-0 (90^e), completing the ordeal for the people of Hérault.

Le Havre, also in bad shape in Ligue 1, suffered the same fate as Montpellier. The penultimate in the championship was eliminated 1-0 by Stade Briochin, a national 2 club, a little earlier in the day in Saint-Brieuc, at the Fred-Aubert stadium, full to capacity.

Dominant in the first period, the Breton amateurs let up during the second, but took advantage of a corner to score, with a header, the only goal of the game thanks to Stan Janno (80^e). For Le Havre, it is a new poor performance, the fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.

The draw of 16^es of the Coupe de France final will take place on Sunday.