Paris through to last 16 after crazy game!

In their marathon of matches this January, Paris Saint-Germain were faced with the charm of the Coupe de France and its unusual setting tonight, as they were pitted against fifth-tier outfit FC Espaly. The capital club's players were duty-bound to take this match as seriously as possible, too, in order to avoid an upset at the Stade Marcel Michelin, usually the home of French top-flight rugby union club ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Three days after his side's win over Saint-Étienne and three days before the trip to Lens, Luis Enrique opted for a heavily changed XI, notably handing a first-team debut to young Axel Tape in central defence, alongside Lucas Hernandez. With João Neves at left-back and Yoram Zague at right-back, a midfield trio of captain Fabián Ruiz, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Senny Mayulu was placed behind an attacking line comprised of Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos.

You could have forgiven the Espaly players for being starstruck, but that couldn't have been less true in the game's early stages, especially when Kevis Gjeçi opened the scoring for the hosts in just the third minute of play by heading in a cross from the right that was deflected just enough to beat the Paris defence.

The aforementioned charm of the Coupe de France was certainly in operation in Clermont, but Les Parisiens were quick to react as they looked to put the record straight as soon as possible. On the quarter-hour mark, shortly after Doué was denied by a reflex save from Espaly keeper Jordan Etienne, Ramos appeared to be bundled over inside the box, but no sanction was forthcoming from referee Marc Bollengier.

On the half-hour mark, the opposition stopper pulled off another miraculous save to thwart Mayulu, who had rushed in to get himself on the end of a cutback from Barcola, and the home side continued to resist until the 36th minute, when they were powerless to stop Les Rouge et Bleu drawing level. After the ball had fallen to the feet of Zaïre-Emery 25 yards out, the midfielder's pinpoint strike nestled into the bottom left corner of Etienne's net.

Luis Enrique made three changes at the break, with Lee Kang-in, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes coming on in a bid to tip the game in Paris's favour, but despite their alertness inside the penalty area, neither Doué nor Mendes were able to break through the Espaly defence. With three quarters of the game played, however, Barcola made a lightning-quick run forward and was found in between the opposition's lines by Neves's vision before whipping the ball across goal for Doué, who threw himself at the chance to finish and thereby give his side the lead for the first time in the match.

Les Rouge et Bleu wouldn't hold onto this lead for long, though, as Espaly, carried by the famous je ne sais quoi of the Coupe de France, made things all square once more through Maxence Fournel, who beat Arnau Tenas at the second time of asking in the 71st minute. Nevertheless, having provided the assist earlier on, Barcola would rescue his side yet again with two minutes left of the 90, this time finishing off a cross from Mendes.

In one final twist at the end of added time, Ramos doubled Paris's lead from the penalty spot to seal his side's win in Clermont. The charm of French football's oldest competition had very much been in the air tonight, though, in a game that had symbolised what this competition is all about and had brought the professional game and the amateur game even closer together. Well played, gentlemen!