Nantes offered themselves a 2-1 victory over Olympiakos, in a boiling stadium, during the first day of the Europa League, following two decades of absence on the European scene.
With this success, the Canaries take the lead in their group G, tied with Fribourg, who won by the same scoreline once morest Qarabag.
If Samuel Moutoussamy involuntarily equalized for the Greeks (50th) following the opener of Mostafa Mohamed (32nd), Evann Guessand (90 + 5) took charge in the last seconds of capsizing the stadium, whose spans have trembled.
Coach Antoine Kombouaré wanted to see Beaujoire on fire, so following a magnificent tifo evoking Anne of Brittany and the motto of the dukes “Potius mori quam foedari” (rather die than fail), they set the Loire stand ablaze.
Too bad for the announcer’s call for a minute’s silence in tribute to Elizabeth II: if the players respected it around the central circle, the supporters were launched and the smoke bombs even masked the portrait of the queen on the giant screens .
In this supercharged atmosphere, the Nantes residents also applied themselves to putting intensity on the ground, going straight ahead, even if it meant stripping the backs.
From the 2nd minute, a strike from Dennis Appiah put goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik to work, and the Nantes people continued with high pressing, until they found the fault.
Well served between the lines by Quentin Merlin, Ludovic Blas launched Mostafa Mohamed, who made the 31,000 supporters scream by concluding with a shot from the right in the small inside net (1-0, 32nd).
Opposite, despite the incessant gesticulations of their new Spanish coach Carlos Corbera, who arrived in August following a bitter failure once morest Maccabi Haifa in qualifying for the Champions League, Olympiakos initially proved too clumsy to exploit the spaces left by the Nantes defence.
But the Canaries took care of it on their own: on the first corner of the Greeks, Alban Lafont completely missed his exit, and the ball bounced off the knee of Samunel Moutoussamy to put the two teams equal (1-1, 50th ).
The game was then balanced, until the Nantes people started to push once more, in an increasingly tense climate.
Moussa Sissoko’s header was pushed back by Vaclik (74′), Nicolas Pallois’ shot went over the bar (80′) and a first goal from Guessand was canceled for offside (81′). But his header, on a cross from Blas, was valid (2-1, 90th + 5).
Other good news for the Canaries: they have found Sissoko, Moses Simon and Quentin Merlin, injured in recent weeks. They will not be too much on Sunday with Lorient residents in great shape before the long trip next week to the Qarabag field in Azerbaijan.
