The scent of Ligue 1. This was how the local press was building up to the Easter Saturday top-of-the-table clash between FC Nantes and leaders AS Monaco. Looking at their histories, it is hard to argue against the pedigree of the two clubs. A shared fifteen league titles (8-7 in FCN’s favour) showed firstly just what a classic match-up this was and secondly just how far these clubs have fallen from their most recent successes. For FCN, it’s a league title and subsequent Champions League campaign in 2001; for ASM it’s Didier Deschamps leading ASM to a remarkable Champions League final the following season.
However, the present incarnations of these two teams are certainly a distance from where they were in those glorious years. FC Nantes have been languishing in France’s second tier for four long seasons and to be honest have not shown any real signs of being promoted, until now. Meanwhile AS Monaco are bankrolled by Dmitry Rybolovlev a Russian billionaire and have clear designs on challenging PSG at the head of French football.
The match itself was played out to a packed house on the Easter weekend. FC Nantes sold around 20,000 tickets the first morning they were on sale. In fact, this fan was forced into paying nearly four times more for his ticket than he normally pays and was made to watch the game from the gods. No matter, it was worth it.
The match began with a massive yellow and green tifo to welcome the players to the field. The atmosphere just getting going. The first 20 minutes saw Monaco come at Nantes with almost total domination. Carl Medjani tested FC Nantes ‘keeper Remy Riou from a corner, the header parried away. Yannick Ferreira Carrasco’s superb curling freekick nearly opened the score for ASM. Truth be told, he should have opened the score when he blasted wide from a Valere Germain saved shot. FC Nantes fought valiantly to withstand the red-and-white barrage before mustering up some chances of their own, top-scorer Filip Djordjevic having a header well saved.
It was just before half time when the deadlock was broken, and it broke for the home side. In the 43rd minute Serge Gakpe’s shot looped across the pitch to Adrien Trebel, cutting in from the left, who struck home impressively from 25 yards. Cue delirium within the stadium.
The second half began a little more sedately but it wasn’t long before the frenetic rhythm and pace of the first half returned. In the 50th minute a ball not cleared by FCN’s captain Olivier Veigneau fell to Lucas Ocampos but he hit the side netting. Not long after, it was the Argentinean again who, using his trickery, went past Veigneau and took a shot which was blocked only as far as Valere Germain who fired just over the bar. In fact, both Ocampos and Carrasco gave Nantes’ full backs a real test. Veigneau in particular had a torrid time against Ocampos and it was not the biggest surprise that the equaliser would come from these areas. Carrasco skipped past Issa Cissokho before firing across goal, Ocampos was first to it, jinked past Veigneau before having a deflected shot from a narrow angle palmed into the net by Riou. Ocampos then ran to the Monaco fans to celebrate. While Monaco do not have the largest fan base in France, they certainly did bring a decent amount of fans to this particular game (let’s not make jokes here, save that for wags on Twitter).
The entertainment did not finish there as both teams had a good few chances to win the game. Djordjevic and FCN will feel aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty in the 66th minute. To make matters worse, Djordjevic was then booked for simulation. All in all, the only negative from this game was the referee, who gave the impression of a man paid by the free kick, which is, alas, all too common in the French leagues.
Djordjevic had his best chance of the game after 71 minutes, following good interplay between Trebel and Jordan Veretout to set up the Serb, whose shot was saved.
Jordan Veretout is one of FC Nantes’ brightest hopes for the future. As someone who impressed for the French youth sides, a lot has been expected from le bleuet. On the face of it, he has had a disappointing season – no league goals and only four assists in 30 league matches is not outstanding. In fact, what has happened is that Veretout’s role has changed. FCN’s change in management over the summer led to an increase in defensive responsibility for the 20-year-old. He is now playing deeper and has less license to get forward than was granted him by Landry Chauvin in the previous season.
It was in the aftermath of the match that news broke of an injury for Veretout. This was not a result of being clattered during the match. As it transpires, he injured his knee in ‘domestic accident’ and will be out for a month. The details of this are sketchy, but what is certain is that this is a blow to FCN.
However, Veretout was outshone by fellow local lad Trebel, who did well on the left flank, if not with his tackling; the auburn-haired midfielder was deservedly booked early on and was thereafter walking the proverbial tight-rope. A splendidly taken goal rightly gained him the plaudits.
The match was not finished until right at the death. Veretout whipped in a free kick in stoppage time, Venezuelan Fernando Aristigueta headed onto the post before Monaco keeper Danijel Subasic displayed Jedi-like reflexes to palm the ball off the goal line. It was so nearly the ending the capacity crowd were after.
Both teams will come away from the match knowing they could well have taken the three points on another day, but all things considered a draw was probably the fairest result. The AS Monaco players spoke about a ‘logical’ result with only a tinge of disappointment, as well they should with a 4-point gap over les Canaris in the table. FC Nantes are, evidently, in the opposite position and will take begrudgingly the draw.
L’Equipe referred to the match as a match of Ligue 1 quality. Both sides will hope to find themselves meeting again next season, but the path for one looks much simpler than for the other.
Simon Scutt is an Englishman who lives in Nantes and can often be found at the Stade La Beaujoire cheering on Les Canaris
Four of the players starting this match feature in the 2013 edition of Le50 – can you guess which? Download the full list to see if you’re right!
