Paris Saint-Germain on Monday were eliminated from the Coupe de France as Marcin Bulka, a goalkeeper they loaned to OGC Nice, saved twice in a penalty shoot-out to put his new team into the last eight.
Nice, second to PSG in Ligue 1, won 6-5 on penalties after a scrappy 0-0 draw. That set up a grudge quarter-final against Olympique de Marseille, third in the league.
“It’s madness,” Bulka said.
Photo: AFP
The last-eight draw, made before Monday’s kickoff, also paired the two surviving fourth-tier clubs, Bergerac Perigord and Versailles 78.
In both the other ties, a Ligue 1 team is to host a Ligue 2 side as AS Monaco face Amiens SC and Nantes entertain SC Bastia.
At the Parc des Princes, both teams struggled to create clear chances, although Kylian Mbappe, who came on for the last 30 minutes, hit the bar in stoppage-time.
“We were better than Nice,” PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said.
“We deserved better, we deserved to win, but we did not create enough to win. We should have been more efficient,” he said.
“The penalty shoot-out is a lottery,” he added.
In the shoot-out, Bulka, who PSG loaned to Nice for the season after Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived last summer, had the final word.
The Pole saved the third PSG penalty from Leandro Paredes, but Donnarumma responded by parrying from Andy Delort.
Bulka, making a rare start for Nice, then ended the contest by diving to his left to save from 18-year-old Xavi Simons.
“I have all the respect for PSG because I am on loan from this club that I love,” Bulka said, adding that his familiarity with some players was not an advantage.
“I know the players, but it’s more the feeling, I chose the correct sides and stopped them,” he said.
It was Bulka’s first appearance at the Parc des Princes, where he had never played for PSG.
“My family was here, I’m very happy because it was the first time they saw a game,” he said.
Nice next host nearby Marseille in a rematch of a Ligue 1 game on Aug. 22 that was abandoned after the home fans invaded the pitch and a brawl broke out between the sides.
Nice had a point deducted as punishment.
The quarter-finals are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
Ryan Yarbrough picked up a dazzling World Series ring from his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. Then he went out and beat them. The New York Yankees starter on Sunday pitched one-run ball over six innings, struck out a season-high five and blanked the Dodgers’ top four hitters in a 7-3 win. “I feel like I’m in a really good place right now and really trying to continue that,” Yarbrough said. “I’m having a lot of fun.” The 33-year-old left-hander made 44 relief appearances between the Dodgers and Blue Jays last season. The Dodgers designated him for assignment on July
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS