RED STAR 93 - REIMS, 17/2/2001 (National Week 23)
| Referee M.Cailleux, assistants M. Puzilewicz & M. Beck – attendance 300 to 350 Scorers : Rangdet (8) - Noro (47), Diamé (50) |
| Referee M.Cailleux, assistants M. Puzilewicz & M. Beck – attendance 300 to 350 Scorers : Rangdet (8) - Noro (47), Diamé (50) |
Is there a crisis now, Monsieur Bras ? Can the Red Star save itself ? Given tonights' performance, I doubt it very much. Put quite simply, Reims were a class apart from the shower of shit in green.
Red Star scored first, giving some hope to the pathetically small turnout. Rangdet got on the end of a cross and slotted home past the Reims goalkeeper. Then, the onslaught as Reims tried to get back into the game. Branger saved, the offside came to the home defences' aid on more than one occasion, as did the woodwork and a few last-gasp tackles. Red Star limped on until the break, but it seemed to be a case of when the equaliser was coming.
As it happens, it came just after the break. Tacalfred was completely out of position and the Reims player fired home past Branger from just inside the box on Red Stars' left. Unmarked. Minutes later the Reims pressure paid off as the up-until-then inept Diamé found his finishing touch at last, beating Branger hands down.
So it was all over bar the shouting. Repellini withdrew the tiring Rangdet and put on Castro, understandable perhaps, but Red Stars' last hopes evaporated when he withdrew the only man capable of breaking the Reims defence, Saci, bringing on Abda instead. Hakim stormed off, straight down the tunnel, visibly disgusted with his coach, and quite rightly so. Shouts of "You don't know what you're doing, Repellini" rained down from the stand. Given that performance, he isn't the only one.