Road to final: Le Racing are back

RC Strasbourg Alsace are back in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, with their summit showdown against EA Guingamp coming 14 years after they won their last piece of major silverware in the same competition. A lot has changed since Jean-Christophe Devaux's thunderous dead-ball strike from 30 yards flew into the net at the Stade de France to give Strasbourg a 2-1 win over SM Caen, on April 30, 2005.

French champions in 1979 and three-time winners of the Coupe de France, that was a second Coupe de la Ligue after 1997 for Le Racing, one of an elite group of clubs to have won all three major trophies. A year after that triumph, Strasbourg were relegated from the top flight. They came straight back up, only to go straight down again in 2008 after losing their last 11 matches of the season.

Future stars departed, like Kévin Gameiro and Morgan Schneiderlin, and by 2011 Strasbourg, languishing in the third-tier Championnat National, were liquidated due to their financial difficulties. Their rebirth since then, under the leadership of president Marc Keller, a former player and French international, has been nothing short of remarkable.

From the fifth tier, Strasbourg won four promotions in six seasons, culminating in claiming the Ligue 2 title on the final day of the 2016-17 campaign. Thierry Laurey's team are now consolidating again in the top flight, aided by another famous free-kick goal. A stunning 94th-minute hit by Dimitri Liénard - who played for the club in the third division - gave them a 3-2 win over Olympique Lyonnais on the final day of last season to secure survival.

This time around, relegation is not a concern, and Strasbourg have enjoyed a remarkable run to the final, eliminating LOSC, Olympique de Marseille, Lyon and Girondins de Bordeaux along the way. "The Coupe de la Ligue was not an objective for us at the start of the season, even less so given the draws we got," Keller told Canal+.

"It has been quite a magnificent run, and the job done by the staff and the players has been incredible." PTI AH

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