Paris' Cup magic!

The Coupe de France is quite clearly a happy hunting ground for Paris Saint-Germain. Making the final four is already something of a regular occurrence with Les Rouge et Bleu winning in their 19th semi-final appearance and their third over Nantes in just 15 years. Like in 2004 and 2006, Nantes were stopped at the gates of the Stade de France and won’t be taking on their derby rivals Rennes on 27 April, while for Paris Saint-Germain, it seems more and more like a home match, geographically, as it’s just a few minutes drive from the Parc des Princes, but also in terms of how often Paris play there in recent years…

In the last four years, Auxerre (1-0 in 2015), OM (4-2 in 2016), Angers (1-0 in 2017) and then Les Herbiers (2-0 last May), Paris have won four finals in a row.
Just a purple patch? Not at all. This year Paris will feature in the final for the 17th time (four only four losses). Only Marseille have made more finals (19), but… OM have only won ten, for nine defeats. Les Rouge et Bleu have won a record 12 Coupe de France crowns.

In fact, since winning in their debut final back in 1982 against Saint-Etienne, the capital club has had a special relationship with the Vieille Dame (Old Lady – as the Cup is affectionately known by the 6,986 clubs that took part in the 2018-19 edition). This emblematic competition, that sees the professional and amateurs football world’s collide has always provided plenty of emotions, thrills and (occasionally) spills… but more often thrills, like that first ever Classique in the final 13 years ago and the 2-1 win over OM in 2006. Nowadays, Marqui, Verratti, Cavani and Co. are undefeated in the competition since January 2014 and have just won their 29th Coupe de France match in a row. Hopefully, the 30th will arrive later this month at the Stade de France…