No French league action this weekend, though they pick it up with a round of fixtures on Tuesday and Wednesday, as it's the Cup final on Saturday. Like the league cup, this is also a Ligue 1 v Ligue 2 clash as Guy Lacombe takes his Rennes side to the capital to play their Breton rivals Guingamp. Naturally, Rennes will go in as favourites, but Guingamp dumped European challengers Toulouse out in the semi-finals and, with it being a derby, you're duty bound to use such clichés like 'form goes out of the window'. Moreover, Lacombe was in charge at Guingamp for many years where he brought through such luminaries as Florent Malouda and every Norwegian referee's favourite, Didier Drogba.
Rennes are without international striker Jimmy Briand through injury and influential midfielder Kader Mangane through suspension, picked up when just about hacking off the leg of Valenciennes midfielder Jonathan Lacourt. Moussa Sow will lead the line in Briand's absence and he's been pretty effective in that role recently. Guingamp are not without their stars, most notably two-time French Cup runner-up Wilson Oruma. He played in and lost twice during his spell with Marseilles. "It's 70-30 in their favour" he said during the build-up, "but we'll give it everything as 30% isn't bad". That's the spirit.
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