Coupe de France – 16th final: “It’s football, it’s madness sometimes”: Lille, the calm and the storm

Do you have to be crazy to win a crazy match? This is a bit of the question that arises at the end of the round of 16 between Marseille and Lille this Tuesday at the Vélodrome. The contested match descended into madness when OM equalized at the very end of the match. In this game, it was against all odds that Lille came out on top, displaying Olympian calm with four successful shots on goal. A setback which was felt in the post-match declarations.

“The first thing is the satisfaction, the joy of coming to qualify, because it was not a simple affair with this draw“, discreetly rejoiced Bruno Genesio at the microphone of Bein Sport. The coach of the Dogues also assured that he did not feel any particular tension with the local bench, where Mehdi Benatia, the Marseille sports director, appeared in angry at the Bein Sports microphone to denounce the red card he received in the final moments of the match.

What Genesio noticed, however, was the inability of his team to secure the result earlier, whether through a lack of offensive efficiency – we think in particular of Hakon Haraldsson's opportunity in the 88th. – or because of the equalizer conceded to Luis Henrique (1-1, 90+7). “There is a little bit of frustration at being forced to go to penalties, even though we had the victory. We had a great match, but we will have to remedy these shifts in concentration at the end of the match which cost us dearly“, analyzed Genesio.

Such calm after such a match is striking, and it is reflected in the statements of his captain Benjamin André, not really euphoric when discussing what was still his team's 20th match without defeat. “We don't calculate too much, we continue. We come out of two draws with efficiency problems, we had them again this evening, if we want to be a very good team we will have to resolve them“, André simply pointed out to France Télévisions.

So, was calm the great architect of Lille’s qualification? This is debatable. It took composure to negotiate this penalty shootout. But if there was a spark of madness this Thursday, it was in the hero of Lille's qualification, goalkeeper Vito Mannone. Up like a cuckoo, the goalkeeper played with all his range to intimidate the opposing attackers during the session, warming up with Luis Henrique, then Leonardo Balerdi, especially stopping two attempts in passing, including the last from Jonathan Rowe.

“It was an incredible match to win, that’s football, it’s crazy sometimes!”Mannone enthused at the BeiN microphone, not at all on the same wavelength as his trainer. “I had a similar match in England, it's nice to see history repeating itself. I work every day for these moments, I'm happy to be able to help the team“, smiled the Transalpine. “It was a real cup match. (…) We have to take shelter first but at least we will have made Vito shine (Mannone)” André had fun. Lots of calm, a little storm, that was the right formula for Lille this Tuesday evening.