In their two matches against Paris Saint-Germain during the 2019-20 season, AS Saint-Étienne was outscored by a combined 10-1.
Furthermore, Les Verts did themselves no favors. In those matches, they lost a player due to a red card on both occasions. Les Parisiens already have the better squad and going down a player only made things worst.
If a team like Saint-Étienne decides to inflect self-damage by receiving a red and playing with 10 men for a significant amount of time once again, PSG will make them pay and walk away with the Coupe de France trophy.
This type of fate is one that Saint-Étienne manager Claude Puel wants to avoid for the third time. If they would like to pull off the upset, he understands that shooting themselves in the foot and playing down a man is something their squad must avoid.
Puel recently spoke with Franceinfo, and the first thing he discusses is trying to play with 11 men for 90 minutes.
“We will try to win it and finish with 11, unlike our two games against them this season. Each time we lost a player in the first half-hour…The context is very special after this long stop. In general, we start a season with a championship match,” Puel said.
“This is a French Cup final. The pace, the physique, the approach to this match is very, very difficult. We are trying to do our best to adapt to these circumstances. It is something very specific that is imposed on us, but we will have to take up the challenge.”
We will see if Les Verts can avoid playing down a man for the third time and helping gift-wrap PSG the Coupe de France this Friday.
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