Top-flight teams avoid upsets, reach French Cup round of 32

Seattle Sports

PARIS (AP) — Top-flight teams Lorient, Reims and Toulouse avoided upsets with heavy scoring to reach the French Cup’s round of 32 on Sunday.

But four-time winner Auxerre, which also plays in the first division, needed penalty kicks to get past third-tier Dunkerque after a 2-2 draw.

Lille hosted Troyes later Sunday in an all-first division game.

Dutch striker Thijs Dallinga led the way for Toulouse with two goals in a 7-1 win at fifth-tier Lannion. Toulouse showed fair play by giving Lannion’s players a guard of honor as they walked off.

Lorient won 6-0 at amateur team La Châtaigneraie with forward Yoann Cathline netting twice, while midfielder Martin Adeline also grabbed two as Reims won 7-0 at amateurs Loon-Plage.

Corsican team Ajaccio went to the east of France to take on fourth-tier Jura Sud and won 2-1. Brazilian striker Ruan Levine got both goals for the first-division squad.

Meanwhile, Nassim Akrour showed that age still has not caught up with him, as the 48-year-old former Algeria striker set up fifth-tier Chambéry’s third goal with a fine pass in a 3-1 win at Aubagne.

First-division teams Clermont, Monaco and Nice all lost on Saturday — with Nice’s defeat increasing the pressure on coach Lucien Favre — while record 14-time cup champion Paris Saint-Germain needed late goals to win on Friday.

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