“In a few weeks, they will be cheering me on. ” Whistled by the public of La Beaujoire when he left during the derby lost against Rennes last weekend (0-1), Andy Delort would surely have been entitled to a standing ovation if the quarter-final of the Coupe de France between Nantes and Lens had not argued behind closed doors. The absence of supporters in the den of the Canaries did not prevent the FCN from bringing down the Lensois (2-1), nor Delort from slamming a first double with the Yellows.
Defending champion, Nantes is still in the race to repeat its feat. Victorious over Nice (1-0) in the final last year, Antoine Kombouaré’s men signed their return to the last four of a competition rid of Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16. Marseille was responsible for eliminating PSG (2-1) and could cross the road to Nantes in the semi-finals provided they get rid of Annecy this Wednesday evening. Lyon, winner of Grenoble (2-1), and Toulouse, which has just crushed Roder (6-1), are the two other clubs already qualified.
While the other elite clubs drew second division teams, the Canaries had inherited the fourth in Ligue 1. RC Lens opened the scoring in the 28th minute through Seko Fofana. The Nantes reaction was quick to rustle. She came from an elder of House Blood and Gold. Arriving from Lens in the summer transfer window, Ignatius Ganago put the Ligériens back on track for success by causing two penalties.
Delort was responsible for equalizing by sending his first full-axis penalty (31st). The Algerian hit hard again to convert the second (2-1, 59th) but relied more on precision to deceive Jean-Louis Leca a second time. His composure has not rubbed off on all of his partners. The Canaries almost came down to earth in the 86th minute, when Adrien Thomasson hit the Nantes post. Present at 5.50m at the reception of a center back from Angelo Fulgini, the ex-Strasbourg player failed to deceive Rémy Descamps. Like the lack of realism of the Lensois, authors of 20 shots during the game.