Nantes qualified for the final by beating Lyon (1-0)

Defending champions FC Nantes qualified for the Coupe de France final by beating Lyon at home 1-0 on Wednesday 5 April.

Four times winners of the event, Nantes won thanks to a splendid goal from Ludovic Blas (57^e minute). Antoine Kombouaré’s team will meet in the final on April 29 at the Stade de France the winner of the other semi-final which will oppose Annecy (L2) to Toulouse on Thursday.

For Lyon, on the other hand, the disappointment is great. Already stalled in Ligue 1, where it is only ninth, Olympique Lyonnais (OL) fails to save its year and is preparing for a second consecutive season without European competition, very far from the stated objectives.

Paradoxically, despite this qualification, the people of Nantes are not sure of staying in Ligue 1 next year, since they are only 14^ewith only four lengths ahead of the first relegated.

In front of a Beaujoire stadium already in turmoil an hour before kick-off, the Nantes people started their match well, with a strike from Jean-Charles Castelletto forcing Anthony Lopes into a reflex parade from the first minute.

The Canaries have multiplied the chances

Much more determined than during their severe defeat on Sunday against Reims (0-3), the Canaries continued to get chances, forcing Lopes to intervene again on strikes from Ludovic Blas (22^e50^e78^e) and against Ignatius Ganago (40^e).

But they also lost a lot of balls on too hasty or imprecise actions, and Lyon knew how to be dangerous in offensive transitions. But the Nantes defense held firm, with a once again intractable Nicolas Pallois. And above all, the Gones multiplied the strikes without managing to frame a single one before a free kick from Alexandre Lacazette in the wall in the 84th.^e minute.

Revealed one evening in January 2020 at La Beaujoire during an eighth final of the Coupe de France where he had accumulated two goals and two assists when he was only 16 years old, Rayan Cherki was particularly helpless.

And as often in Nantes, it was Blas who unblocked the situation. Served with his back to goal in the area by a ball stung by Fabien Centonze, he carried out a double control of the chest and shoulder before turning to unleash a shot from the left which deceived Lopes (1-0, 57^e).

Even when the Lyonnais increased the pressure at the end of the match, the Nantes people proved to be just as dangerous, like this shot from Samuel Moutoussamy close to the post (78^e).

And when Bradley Barcola, scorer on Sunday in Paris, sank into the box in the very last minutes, he saw his shot repelled from the shoulder by Alban Lafont, who entered half an hour into the game replacing Rémy Descamps , visibly injured.