French League Cup: Guingamp deny Leonardo Jardim third straight final after dramatic win over AS Monaco on penalties

Paris: Guingamp denied returning Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim a third straight French League Cup final, beating the Principality side on penalties after a dramatic 2-2 draw on Tuesday.   [caption id=“attachment_5988641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Guingamp players celebrate after the shootout. Twitter: @EAGuingamp[/caption] Portugese boss Jardim returned to the team he led to the French title in 2017 three months after his sacking in a period where Thierry Henry took over the reigns.   Both sides are fighting relegation battles in the French top flight with the Brittany-based outfit sitting bottom of the Ligue 1 table and Jardim’s side one point and one place above them. William Vainqueur was sent off before Rony Lopes and Aleksandr Golovin scored for the visitors in the first 45 minutes and Alexandre Mendy and Marcus Thuram forced the shoot-out with second-half efforts. Sofiane Diop missed the seventh penalty for the visitors before 22-year-old winger Marcus Coco secured a place in the final of the French League Cup for the first time in the hosts’ history. Jardim said his side were unlucky after Vainqueur’s early dismissal. “Playing 80-odd minutes with 10 men and to claim a 2-2 scoreline and then to go to penalties, we didn’t have luck on our side,” he said. “I have to praise my players who played with 10 men for a lot of the game, they had a good attitude and stuck together.” Early blow for Monaco Vainqueur, making his first start for Monaco, was sent for an early shower after less than a quarter of an hour. He was originally shown a yellow card for a challenge which caught the hosts’ Thuram on above his ankle but referee Jerome Brisard changed it to a red after a VAR review. Jardim’s side claimed the advantage on 19 minutes as Lopes flicked up a cross from recent signing Gelson Martins, turned and half-volleyed the ball past Karl-Johan Johnsson for his third goal of the season. Their lead was doubled four minutes later as Aleksandr Golovin netted for the first time for the club. He received the ball on a counter-attack from Martins and beat Johnsson with a strike into the roof of the net. The home side began the second half in the best way possible as Mendy raced his way past veteran defender Kamil Gilk to score as goalkeeper Danijel Subasic could only watch. The Bretons were level ten minutes later as Thuram embarrased the influential Martins. The son of former France international Lilian, Marcus was fed by substitute Ronny Rodelin outside the box to fire into the bottom corner with Subasic flat-footed. Cesc Fabregas was successful with the first penalty but youngster Diop missed the seventh and Coco booked himself a place in the Guingamp history books with subtle strike in the bottom corner. Guingamp will face either Strasbourg or Bordeaux in March’s final as the two sides play on Wednesday.