Football
19y

UPDATE 1-Soccer-Sedan upset Monaco in French Cup semi-final

(Adds quotes, detail)

PARIS, May 11 - Second division Sedan upset a dull
Monaco side 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the French Cup final.

Midfielder Mickael Citony scored the winner from just inside
the area 75 minutes into the game in Monaco.

Easterners Sedan will play AJ Auxerre in the final on June 4
at the Stade de France. The team from Burgundy beat third
division Nimes 2-1 in the other semi-final on Tuesday.

Monaco, who showed little initiative before a meagre home
crowd, lost their last chance of winning a trophy this season.

"It's a big disappointment because we missed an opportunity
to play the final but Sedan's victory is a deserved one," said
Monaco coach Didier Deschamps.

"They tried harder than we did and created more chances."

Deschamps's men woke up only after conceding the goal,
desperately racing forward in the last 15 minutes in search of
an equaliser.

Last season's Champions League finalists are third in the
Ligue 1 standings, 14 points below Olympique Lyon who have
already secured a fourth consecutive title.

Monaco had also been eliminated from the French League Cup
in the semi-finals, losing 3-1 to unheralded Caen in February.

All they have left to fight for is a top three finish in
Ligue 1 for a place in the third qualifying round of the
Champions League.

Sedan lifted the French Cup twice, in 1956 and 1961. They
last reached the final in 1999, losing 1-0 to Nantes.

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