Nantes France – FC Nantes were defeated at home on Sunday evening by Lille in a 1-2 score. This was the Canary’s most eventful game – being defeated for the ninth game in a row at the home ground. On the other hand, Nantes remained Ligue 1 participants for the forthcoming season after a surprising turnaround of events somewhere else in the league.
The match itself was a ride full of emotions for Nantes fans. It was disaster when the team failed to keep the ball on the ground and conceded two goals within the first 10 minutes. The first 45 minutes could scarcely be remembered where the Canaries did not manage to create any significant opportunities.
Nevertheless, the tide turned after the break. As predictably, Matthieu Abline scored the consolation goal for Nantes and ignited hope in the home fans. Nevertheless, Nantes could not build up on the momentum and once again failed to transform the promising attacks into goals.
The final whistle sounded a sad loss for Nantes, but the real drama was taking place in another part of the city. Strasbourg stunned Metz when the time hit 11 pm, with Strasbourg’s defeat. The emergence of this shocking result, therefore, had revealed that Nantes could still stay in the Ligue 1 for the upcoming season.
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The conflicting feelings were clearly visible at Beaujoire. Some fans expectedly were sad over the loss, but the ones who learned that their team was through the elimination, started to party. For Nantes, it was a quite an ironic evening – the biggest ever home loss combined with the crowning achievement of being premier league’s newcomer
The game was a memorial match for the end of Nantes’ careers of some players, including Nicolas Pallois, Moussa Sissoko and Samuel Moutoussamy. All of them got a standing ovation from the crowd, even though the team lost.
The season is now approaching its end, and Nantes need to evaluate their performance. Of great concern shall be the numerous losses at home. Nevertheless, they can still be proud of their Ligue 1 survival and start to build a stronger team for the next season.
