2008 Coupe de la Ligue Final

The Coupe de la Ligue Final 2008 was a football match that was held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on March 29, 2008. It was contested between Paris Saint-Germain and RC Lens. It was PSG's 4th appearance in the final. They won the inaugural cup in 1995, won again in 1998, and lost to FC Gueugnon in the 2000 final. It was Lens's 2nd appearance in the final. They won the cup in their only appearance back in 1999.

After an opening goal from Pauleta, Lens secured an equalising goal just after halftime from Éric Carrière. With extra time looming, PSG striker Péguy Luyindula was hauled down by Hilton in the penalty area, which resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. Bernard Mendy would convert giving PSG their 3rd Coupe de la Ligue title and also giving them a spot in the UEFA Cup.

Lens mayor Guy Delcourt wanted the match to be replayed after a PSG fan unfurled a racist banner midway through the game.^[1] The match was not replayed, but PSG were fined and penalized. One of the penalties being that they would be unable to participate in next's year League Cup, however this was later overturned on appeal.^[2][3]

Match details

March 29, 2008 21:00	PSG	2 – 1	RC Lens	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 78,741 Referee: Laurent Duhamel
	Pauleta  19' Mendy  90+3'	Report	Carrière  51'

PSG

RC Lens

PSG: GK 1 Mickaël Landreau RB 2 Ceará CB 3 Mamadou Sakho CB 15 Zoumana Camara LB 22 Sylvain Armand RM 20 Clément Chantôme 55' 64' CM 24 Grégory Bourillon CM 23 Jérémy Clément LM 25 Jérôme Rothen FW 9 Pauleta (c) 66' FW 11 Amara Diané Substitutes: GK 16 Jérôme Alonzo DF 5 Bernard Mendy 64' DF 12 Larrys Mabiala MF 10 Souza FW 7 Péguy Luyindula 66' FW 14 David N'Gog FW 18 Loris Arnaud Manager: Paul Le Guen

RC Lens: GK 16 Ronan Le Crom RB 15 Fabien Laurenti 36' CB 4 Adama Coulibaly CB 3 Hilton (c) 90+3' LB 11 Nadir Belhadj AM 10 Éric Carrière DM 23 Nenad Kovačević DM 6 Kader Mangane AM 14 Kévin Monnet-Paquet 68' FW 8 Toifilou Maoulida 84' FW 9 Loïc Rémy 13' Substitutes: GK 1 Vedran Runje DF 2 Marco Ramos DF 26 Yohan Demont 84' MF 28 Julien Sablé MF 18 Olivier Monterrubio 13' MF 21 Sidi Yaya Keita FW 27 Aruna Dindane 68' Manager: Jean-Pierre Papin

MATCH OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Vincent Texier Stéphane Duhamel Fourth official: Olivier Thual MAN OF THE MATCH

MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes extra-time (15 minute intervals) Penalty shoot-out if scores level after extra time. Seven named substitutes Maximum of 3 substitutions.

Road to the Final

Paris Saint-Germain Round of 16[4] FC Lorient 0–3 PSG First Knockout Round PSG 2–0 Montpellier HSC Quarter-final PSG 4–0 Valenciennes FC Semi-final PSG 3–2 AJ Auxerre

RC Lens Round of 16[4] RC Lens 1–0 Lille OSC First Knockout Round AS Monaco 1–2 RC Lens Quarter-final RC Lens 3–0 AS Nancy Semi-final Le Mans Union Club 72 4–5 RC Lens

References

1. ^ Lens rage after PSG fans banner insult - Soccernet
2. ^ PSG Hearing set
3. ^ http://www.frenchleague.com/coupeLigue/lireArticle.asp?idArticle=10166 PSG banned from 2008/09 Coupe de la Ligue
4. ^ ^{a b} Clubs in Ligue 1 receive a bye to the Round of 16

External links

• Coupe de La Ligue Official Homepage
• Coupe de la Ligue Final Draw