The final Coupe de France fixture in the round of 32 will pit French minnows Espaly-Saint-Marcel against the reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday at Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin.
To get to this stage, the Championnat National 3 club defeated Dijon on penalties (4-3), while the French top-flight leaders were shootout winners against Lens by the same margin.
Match preview
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They have already etched their names into the history books in this competition, but on Wednesday, Espaly can pull off what may go down as the greatest upset ever in the Coupe de France.
After two shutout victories to get to the round of 64, the club from south-central France showed plenty of resilience against Dijon, equalising that match with fewer than 20 minutes remaining and holding their nerve from the spot to advance to this stage of the tournament for the first time.
They have built up some decent momentum ahead of this encounter, going unbeaten in their previous seven matches across all competitions.
Lionel Vaillant's men are third from the bottom in their Championnat National 3 group, accumulating 13 points after 12 league contests.
Espaly did not lose a single encounter in 2024 when netting multiple times, winning nine of those 10 games played across all competitions.
Meanwhile, they have not lost any of their previous seven matches as the home team but have not won any of their previous four such fixtures.
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Lens gave PSG all they could handle in their opening match of this tournament, but in the end, the defending champions held strong, coming from behind to claim victory.
Les Parisiens have reached the last 32 in 10 consecutive Coupe de France campaigns since they were beaten by Montpellier HSC in the fourth round in 2014 (2-1).
PSG began 2025 by claiming the Trophee des Champions crown, and they enter this midweek affair on an eight-match unbeaten run across all competitions.
Their last three competitive away matches all ended in a victory for Luis Enrique's side, who scored nine goals over that stretch and conceded only three.
This season, they have only been behind in three Ligue 1 affairs, while Les Parisiens have been held goalless in just one encounter versus a French opponent, claiming a 0-0 domestic draw with Auxerre last December.
Only once in the previous 15 editions of the Coupe de France have they been eliminated by a side in a lower division than them, losing to Rodez in the 2009 round of 16.
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Team News
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From their victory over Dijon to their previous Coupe de France triumph against Couzeix-Chaptelat (3-0), Espaly inserted five new faces into their starting 11, including Gabay Allaigre, Kais Salah Bendriss, Lucas Russo, Kevin Portal and Kevis Gjeci.
Gjeci netted three minutes after Dijon had taken the lead, while goalkeeper Jordan Etienne was the hero in the shootout, stopping two penalties before Joachim Ichane converted the winner from 12 yards away.
Many names are linked to a move out of PSG during this transfer window, including Randal Kolo Muani, whom Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly courting, while Marco Asensio is rumoured to be heading to Aston Villa and the French giants may be close to signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli.
Goncalo Ramos had the equalising goal against Lens in their previous Coupe de France affair, while Matvey Safonov stopped the final two penalties that he faced to send them into the next round.
Espaly-Saint-Marcel possible starting lineup:
Etienne; Allaigre, Bendriss, Curt, Uzun, Mezaber; Ichane, Portal, Ait Boulaalam, Gjeci; Fournel
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Neves; Mbaye, Ramos, Barcola
We say: Espaly-Saint-Marcel 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
Espaly barely got over the line against a third-tier side in Dijon, and they will be in tough against the best team in France at the moment, who have so much quality they can call upon.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
