FC Nantes drew away 1-1 against Juventus in their Europa League playoff first leg round, leaving all to play for next Thursday as Les Canaris will host the Italian giants at La Beaujoire. Juventus dominated proceedings early on, with Nantes proving wasteful in their hosts’ half. With a 5-man defense, fuelled by the return from injury of old-school centre-back Nicolas Pallois, Nantes head coach Antoine Kombouaré’s intentions were clear: overload their penalty box and proceed with counter-attacking play. The plan came undone at the 13th minute when Juventus scored a class goal – Ángel Di María pinged a fantastic halfway line cross for Federico Chiesa to head it for Dušan Vlahović to easily slam home.
A goal down, Les Canaris were pinned back by Juventus. Di María and Adrien Rabiot kept finding pockets of space left, right and centre in Nantes’ midfield. The visitors gradually grew into the game from the half-hour mark though, mounting the pressure on I Bianconeri. However, Juventus’ tightly-knit 3-man defense and Nantes’ wastefulness in the final third meant they failed to register a single shot on target in the first half.
Nantes went toe-to-toe with Juventus as the clock ran out. The hosts’ attacks became stale and somewhat predictable, and they were to be punished for it. In vintage Liverpool style, Les Canaris produced a stunning counter-attack with Fabien Centonze feeding Mostafa Mohamed. The Egyptian forward, nowhere to be seen before that, laid it on a plate for Ludovic Blas to riffle past Wojciech Szczęsny with power and composure at the hour mark. Juventus were close to getting their lead back, as Chiesa hit the woodwork twice and Di María almost scored directly from a corner.
Both teams went for the throat in the dying minutes. Juventus had no intention of settling for a home draw while Nantes wanted to make sure no opportunity to salvage a historic win was wasted. Eventually, no team got the winner. Although, Juve could have had a last-minute penalty at the very end as Portuguese referee João Pinheiro was called to VAR. Centonze handballed in the box but Juventus defender Bremer was deemed to have fouled him beforehand. Les Canaris can leave Italy with a smile on their faces. They are very much alive in this tie against an European powerhouse and can look forward to avenging their 1996 Champions League semi-finals loss at home next Thursday. And this time, the Brigade Loire will be in full voice.
Nantes players ratings
Alban Lafont, 6 – Not at fault for Vlahović’s goal and alert to thwart Di María twice in the first half. He also made sure Girotto didn’t embarrass himself with an own goal. Vital in the air too. As always, a calming and assuring presence.
Fabien Centonze, 5 – He had a hard time in defending against Chiesa and was at fault for Juventus’ opener in letting the Italian run free on his flank. He made up for it by launching the counter-attack that gave Nantes the all-important equalising goal and keeping things simple defense-wise.
Jean-Charles Castelletto, 7
Nicolas Pallois, 7 – A surprise in the starting line-up. The 35-year-old played his first game in more than a month and he was very much up for it, adding a much-needed physicality and poise to cope with Vlahovic and Chiesa.
Andrei Girotto, 6
Marcus Coco, 5
Moussa Sissoko, 7 – Very involved in Nantes’ build-up play and constantly available in going forward. The former Tottenham man didn’t shy away from his defensive duties too. He rarely showed that kind of endeavour since his arrival last summer. Exhausted in the dying minutes.
Samuel Moutoussamy, 6.
Pedro Chirivella, 6
Ludovic Blas, 7 – Nantes’ creative spark struggled to match the pace of a European knockout stage tie. He enjoyed more of the ball as Juventus faltered in the second half. To his immense credit, he scored Nantes’ only goalscoring opportunity.
Mostafa Mohamed, 4. The Egyptian lost countless balls and failed to prove an effectual outlet for his teammates or a threat to Wojciech Szczęsny. He came alive at the hour mark in giving Blas the assist for his equaliser. Replaced by Moses Simon, who gave a hard time to Mattia De Sciglio.
GFFN | Bastien Cheval