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A thunderous second-half free kick from defender Jean-Christophe Devaux (pictured) was enough to claim Strasbourg their second Coupe de la Ligue crown, defeating Caen 2-1 on Saturday.
Played out before a capacity Stade de France, both Strasbourg, 14th in Ligue 1, and Caen 19th, belied their lowly League status in an entertaining match.
It was Strasbourg who opened the brighter and striker Mamadou Niang was twice denied inside the opening ten minutes by an agile Vincent Planté in the Caen goal.
Caen responded and could easily have opened the scoring, had midfielder Reynald Lemaître not decidedly left his shooting boots at home.
However, it was the Alsace club that took the lead just moments after referee Gilles Veissière waved away strong claims for a penalty when Mickaël Pagis appeared to be brought down by Planté during a goal mouth scramble.
A flowing move down the right wing ended in Yacine Abdessadki’s volleyed cross being met by Niang at the far post who directed his header back across a stranded Planté on 39 minutes.
Again Caen responded and top scorer Sébastien Mazure smashed home a left-footed drive from the edge of the area, just three minutes later, to send the two sides level-pegging to the break.
Strasbourg could have retaken the lead just seconds into the second half when Swede Alexander Farnerud blazed across the face of goal with only Planté to beat. Strasbourg was enjoying the wealth of possession and Pagis had another penalty appeal turned down before Devaux sealed the win just 12 minutes from time.
Arthur Boka was brought down on the edge of Caen area and Pagis rolled the ball into the path of Devaux whose shot from 24metres fizzed over a startled Planté.
The victory is Strasbourg’s second Coupe de la Ligue triumph after current Coach Jacky Duguépéroux led the side to victory over Bordeaux in 1997 during his first stint with the Alsace club.
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