Traveling to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to face Qarabag this Thursday (6:45 p.m.), the Canaries had to plan everything well in advance.
By land, or by sand yacht as a journalist maliciously asked Antoine Kombouaré recently, 4936 kilometers separate Nantes from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan which will host the meeting of the second day of the Europa League between Qarabag and the Canaries this Thursday (6:45 p.m.). A real odyssey. That the people of Nantes, of course, will fly in a private plane, no offense to some who would have gladly put them in a bus. A plane that the Loire-Atlantique club even had to change because the one it usually uses did not have a large enough tank to take it to the borders of Asia. Even the question of visas had to be anticipated and settled upstream for three players in the squad: the Nigerian Moses Simon, the Cameroonian Ignatius Ganago and the Egyptian Mostafa Mohamed. The symbol that this trip is like no other for Nantes, who dreamed of finding Europe to travel, and who will therefore be served.
As of Tuesday, the workforce left the City of the Dukes in the early afternoon to arrive in Baku in the middle of the evening, after approximately seven hours of flight. A very early departure linked to the obligation, on the European scene, to hold a press conference the day before the match at the place where it will take place. Exceptions can be granted by UEFA but Nantes have not requested any. “Damn for damn», as the expression goes, we might as well play the game of this long journey in its entirety. On the other hand, for the return, Antoine Kombouaré insisted on returning immediately to France, therefore not spending the night there and taking a night plane to land in Nantes-Atlantique after 6 a.m., time to its reopening. Indeed, Sunday at 5:05 p.m., the Canaries will welcome the surprising Lensois to Beaujoire, whom they would like to bring back to earth. Clearly, in everyone’s eyes, the most important match of the week, which once again raises the specter of this Europa League snubbed by the representatives of Ligue 1.
However, this will not be the case for Nantes this Thursday. Even if Kombouaré should carry out a slight turnover with in particular the possible tenure of Samuel Moutoussamy and Mostafa Mohamed. The inaugural victory against Olympiakos (2-1) has indeed given appetite and ambition to the little Canaries. Who, in addition, do not want to become the first in France to lose to Qarabag, whose record against Ligue 1 teams shows 3 draws for 5 defeats. The last two to date against Olympique de Marseille – which was also consulted to give some logistical advice – last season, including a very dry 3-0 in Baku. Proof that despite the distance, it is quite possible to leave Azerbaijan with suitcases full of points. Moreover, Kombouaré has never hidden his ambition in the Europa League: “Now I know my group much better. Today, I believe that we are equipped to play on both counts and the idea is to have a good European campaign, and above all continue to do well in the Ligue 1 championship.This therefore requires a positive result in Baku, where the Nantes coach could also say that travel is also used to train young people.