Nantes, defending champions, became the first team to qualify for the French Cup final after beating Lyon 1-0 at home on Wednesday in the first semifinal.
In the final, which will be played on April 29 at the Stade de France (Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris), Nantes will face the winner of the clash between Annecy (2nd division) and Toulouse, who face the Thursday.
Ludovic Blas, after receiving from Fabien Centonze, controlled with his back to goal, helped himself with his shoulder and accommodated a left-footed shot that made it 1-0 in the 57th minute.
In the first half, in the 32nd minute, Nantes had a goal by Samuel Moutoussamy disallowed for offside. Shortly after, at minute 34, Nantes was forced to change goalkeepers due to injury, with Alban Lafont coming on in place of Rémy Descamps, who had received medical attention shortly before after being hit.
Nantes will be aiming for their fifth French Cup title and second in a row, having lifted the trophy last season by beating Nice 1-0 in the decisive game.
Despite this joy, the team from the west of France should not be carried away by euphoria and not neglect their delicate situation in Ligue 1, where the latest poor results have left them in fourteenth place, with just four points above the red zone in the standings. .
“It’s a great moment, it’s not usual to experience these kinds of moments, so we have to enjoy it. After this we have the fight for permanence,” Nantes coach Antoine Kombouaré recalled in statements to beInSports.
Lyon, five times Cup champion although the last one dates back more than a decade (2012), thus losing the last option they had left to end the season with a title. In Ligue 1 they are barely ninth, despite their 1-0 win last Sunday at leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
“This is something sad for Olympique de Lyon, important teams were already eliminated and we were in the semifinals, but the road ends here. Now we have to finish the season. We have nine games left and we will always play to win, as we tried to do today”, commented the coach of the Lyons, the former French coach Laurent Blanc.
Annecy’s dream
On Thursday the second semifinal will be played, in which Toulouse, thirteenth ranked out of the twenty clubs in Ligue 1, is the theoretical favorite when visiting Annecy, from the second division.
For Annecy, the match represents a great opportunity to continue dreaming, after having delivered the big surprise in the quarterfinals, eliminating Marseille in a penalty shootout, which in the previous round had knocked down the great favourite, Paris Saint-Germain. Germain.
The Cup semifinal allows a breather for the team from the capital of Haute-Savoie, which after a bad run (four defeats and a draw) is only fifteenth in the Ligue 2 standings, only two points above the relegation places to the third category.
Annecy aspires to be the third second division team to win the French Cup: since the first edition (1917-1918), only Le Havre in 1959 and Guingamp in 2009 have achieved that feat.