At the Stade de France,
Challenge accepted! After the victory in the semi-final against Monaco, which had already given rise to scenes of incredible jubilation and an invasion of the pitch as we like them, Antoine Kombouaré had launched a challenge to the Nantes supporters: to bring Beaujoire back to the Stade de France for the final against Nice. The least we can say is that the Kanak was heard. All smiles in the mixed zone, an hour after the victory of his players, the former defender of the Canaries savored: “There it is twice Beaujoire at the Stade de France! I challenged them and they responded in the best possible way. »
Indeed, if the match was laborious – despite a well-deserved Nantes victory – the atmosphere in the stands was totally crazy. You had to see this Stade de France at 2/3 Nantes to realize what this club represents for the yellow and green people. Even before kick-off, the Nantes bend was adorned with a huge and no less sumptuous tifo covering the entire grandstand. A real visual slap that set the tone for the rest of the evening. During the match, the supporters set fire from the first to the last minute, knocking out the Nice corner.
The Beaujoire stadium of France
We cannot be blamed for taking sides since, according to Antoine Kombouaré, the Nice coach also could only admit defeat. “Christophe told me before the match “you won the battle in the stands”, I replied that I would also like to win the battle on the pitch. And in the end that’s what we did. I would like to say a big thank you to the supporters, it is thanks to them that we are here, with the energy, the strength that they give us. Coming here and filling the Stade de France is madness. »
All the players we met gave us the same speech. Arm in arm with evening striker Ludovic Blas, Randal Kolo-Muani found it hard to believe. ” It was wonderful. Magnificent. Frankly it is thanks to them that we win the match, ”he assured. Earlier, Pedro Chirivella said he had spent his day on the phone watching videos of supporters invading the capital. “After I had my father on the phone, he told me that the streets of Paris were yellow and green, it’s just fantastic. »
We hope you don’t mind us not writing toast about the game. In truth, it is time that we save you. But for the purists, all the same, a small summary of the meeting signed by Kolo-Muani, the kid from Villepinte: “We knew that if we returned to the break at 0-0 we were going to make them doubt. We came back very strong in the second half, we scored and we closed the shop. “Simple, basic.
With Kombouaré, the people of Nantes come back from afar
More than the way, the people of Nantes prefer to remember the piece of history they wrote together on Saturday evening. Ludo Blas: “It’s beautiful because we are entering the history of FC Nantes, we write our name on this page of this legendary club, it’s a pleasure. “The medal around the neck, Kombouaré is levitating:” Pffff, sick thing! I imagined everything except that. I am living a waking dream. At the final whistle it was really moving because you say to yourself “it’s over, the cup is ours”. What you want can happen, the Covid can come back, that’s it, we won the Coupe de France. It’s marked for life, we have a trophy forever. I told the players, they made me happy like never before. Last year we were fighting not to go down to Ligue 2, we were going to die and today we are going to do the Europa League. It’s indescribable. »
Indeed, it is nothing to say that the Canaries have come a long way, they who were said to have had their legs last year after the nightmare of the ephemeral Raymond Domenech era. We finally had to wait for the arrival of Casque d’Or on the bench to regain some of their splendour. Yet it was not won in advance. Mocked for his nag side, Kombouaré had clearly not raised the general enthusiasm among the supporters and the followers of the club on his arrival. Saturday evening, the players wanted to pay tribute to him, like Chirivella: “It’s a deserved victory for the coach who is incredible. You can ask any player, they will all tell you that he played a huge role in our revival. He is like a footballing father to me. »
“The coach was able to put us back on track, he instilled a good mentality in this group. It shows that confidence is everything in football players. Last year we were sorely lacking, we scored but we lost, and he managed to reverse everything, ”welcomed Ludovic Blas for his part. Made aware of the declarations of love of these players, Kombouaré did not hide his emotion. “I crack up when I hear that,” he smiles. I am very sensitive. You know, there’s the game, the tactics, the commitment you need to win a match, but what I like are the human relationships. Because it runs through my veins, my players I love it like my children. »