“I wouldn’t have wanted to take the state of the pitch as an excuse if we had lost”

It's painful for the TFC. This Saturday, December 21, as part of the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France, Toulouse FC ensured its qualification for the next round by overcoming Hauts-Lyonnais (National 3). For this, the Ligue 1 resident, quickly reduced to ten after the expulsion of Niklas Schmidt (27th), had to go through the penalty box (4 tab to 2) during which Frank Magri had nevertheless missed his attempt. “It was a very difficult match,” admitted Toulouse coach Carles Martinez Novell after the match, in comments relayed by the daily L'Équipe.

“We’ll be able to breathe a little”

“After the draw, we inquired. We knew that they were playing on a synthetic pitch. It's not ideal but it at least allows us to play football. Afterwards, we were warned that the match would be here, we knew it would be complicated, but this (Saturday) morning, during scouting, we realized that it would be even harder than expected. I'm even more happy to have won because, even. if it was very limited, I would not have wanted to take the state of the pitch as an excuse if we had lost,” said the Spanish technician. The latter, who recognized that his players had put themselves “in the way” in the Rhône, however praised their “behavior.” But “now, everyone needs to recharge the batteries. We will be able to take a breather. Before coming back to ensure that 2025 is even better”, finished by launching Carles Martinez Novell, whose team will challenge Lens at Bollaert on January 5 for the resumption of the championship.