It’s not the madness of big nights. But still. In a city where the relationship to the round ball does not traditionally arouse excitement, the historic victory of FC Versailles (N2, 4th division) against Toulouse (Ligue 2), this Saturday afternoon in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France (1-0), created the – good – surprise at Baradoz. A handful of supporters attended the meeting in this bar on rue de Satory, in the royal city.
“Going to win away against this professional team with a two-division gap is incredible,” comments Cédric, 38, a civil servant at the Ministry of the Armed Forces and passionate about “sport in general”. Coincidentally, in 2007, he attended another “historic meeting”.
It was in Toulouse, during the match between the TFC and Liverpool in the preliminary round of the Champions League. “I was living there at the time,” he says. I was a supporter of Toulouse, who had lost, but it was also a completely improbable match, like today with Versailles. I am subscribed to historical matches! »
The lack of local enthusiasm for football? “It’s such a shame: watching the match here together was really nice. But we are not at all in a football city, regret the supporter. There, as they go up to the quarter-finals, interest in football will perhaps end up being born. »
Few bars broadcast the meeting
For this enthusiast, the team is all the more deserving as initially the match was to be played at home. For a technical reason related to the lighting of the stadium, Versailles had to put the crampons in the suitcases. “It was unfair. But in the end, they still win: it’s strong! “, he summarizes.
Yann, employee of Baradoz, also followed the meeting, with a funaleaine of customers. “Just the fact that they qualified for the round of 16 was crazy, but winning there is really incredible! They were certainly favored by the expulsion of the Toulouse player in the first minutes but still, they played very well, he rejoices. I am a football fan. I follow all teams. Seeing this one on TV is so rare. We couldn’t miss it! »
In an attempt to stir up a little local excitement, the city of Versailles posted on its Facebook page a list of bars likely to broadcast this historic meeting, broadcast on the Eurosport 2 channel. One of them, Chez Bichette, had to redirect a dozen customers to another establishment. “The city was wrong, reports this Saturday the boss of the bar in question. We could not broadcast the match: we are not subscribed to the channel. »