Toulouse wins the Coupe de France by largely beating Nantes

2023-04-29 22:58:36

Published on : 29/04/2023 – 22:58Modified : 29/04/2023 – 23:37

The Toulousains mastered the final of the Coupe de France by triumphing over Nantes (5-1) at the Stade de France. FC Nantes, defending champion, is thus dethroned.

Toulouse, unleashed, crushed Saturday April 29 Nantes (5-1), mired in a dark end to the season, and won the 106^e edition of the Coupe de France, in an unexpected final and in a great atmosphere, far from social tension.

As a symbol, the biggest defeat in the final of the Coupe de France was suffered by the Canaries, in 1970 against Saint-Étienne (5-0).

From now on, Nantes, 16^e of Ligue 1, fears a nightmarish season with the fear of relegation, a year after having known the happiness of a coronation in the Coupe de France.

A first Toulouse period

Boosted in the stands and on the ground: in a Stade de France rarely so noisy (78,000 spectators) with smoke bombs, tifos and banners, the Violets put pressure on Nantes, completely overwhelmed in defense in the first period.

They logically opened the scoring on a corner from Branco van den Boomen shot at the head of Logan Costa, who rose higher than everyone and easily deceived Alban Lafont (4^e).

The Toulousains doubled the bet a few minutes later, again thanks to Logan Costa, and still with a header (10^e). A winning bet for Philippe Montanier, the Toulouse coach. Established on Saturday, the Cape Verdean had never scored. No player had scored a double so quickly in a Coupe de France final…

Faced with helpless Nantes players who almost never set foot on the ball during the first half apart from a big chance (12^e), Toulouse continued their demonstration.

On a nice opening from Gabriel Suazo, Thijs Dallinga stole the ball in front of the Nantes goalkeeper (23^e). The Dutch striker pushed the Canaries a little further after a strike from Farès Chaibi (31^e).

Moreover, Opta’s statistics show it: Toulouse is the first team to score at least four goals in the first period of a Coupe de France final since Lille against Bordeaux in 1955.

Uncertainty over Europe

The second period of this surprise poster between these two formations in the second part of the table was much less euphoric.

Pushed by the yellow public, the Nantes people reduced the score on a penalty (75^e) transformed by Ludovic Blas. But just after (79^e), the Toulousain Zakaria Aboukhlal delivered a layer with a nice shot under the crossbar of Lafont.

The Violets were supported by their 22,000 fans in fusion, 66 years after the only title in the history of the city, the 1957 Coupe de France obtained at a time when Toulouse played in red and white and vibrated especially for rugby .

This title is also the subject of a dispute between the “TFC”, which has this trophy in its list, and the Federation, which attributes this edition to another “Toulouse FC”, a club that disappeared in 1967 before being reborn. under another name, US Toulouse in 1970.

This victory normally offers a ticket for the Europa League next season. But if AC Milan, which has the same shareholder as Toulouse – the American investment fund RedBird – qualifies for the Champions League or the C3, the “Téfécé” could be deprived of Europe.

“And they are there, the Toulousains” and “Who does not jump is not Toulouse”, sang the Violets, for some leaning on the grids bristling with peaks, after having deployed a magnificent premonitory tifo: “Let’s bring it back to Capitol Square.

Emmanuel Macron absent from stadium screens

In this final played in a context of social tension, sporting encouragement completely took precedence over social discontent. Even the 49^e minute remained calm as unions called for whistling in rejection of the pension reform.

Almost none of the red cards distributed in front of the stadium but confiscated by security were waved in the public. Just before the meeting, Emmanuel Macron greeted the players as they left the locker room.

Without any image on the stadium screens, the president presented the cup in the stands to Toulouse, all smiles.

With this heavy defeat, FC Nantes, which won the Cup last year against Nice (1-0), sinks a little more at the end of the season. “The hour of retirement has come for the Kita, the FCN is for sale” and “The Kita, we don’t want them”, brandished and sang the Nantes people.

With AFP