A defeat that stings. After being swept aside by Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in a rescheduled match from the 26th round of Ligue 1 (3-0), FC Nantes absolutely needed to earn points on Sunday in the battle to avoid relegation. Nine points adrift of Nice (15th) and five points behind Auxerre in the playoff spot (16th), the club from the banks of the Erdre River had to win to reignite their fate. Against Stade Rennais in a Breton derby, the performance wasn’t necessarily bad for Vahid Halilhodzic’s side, which made their opponent doubt, but eventually lost 2-1 with a late goal by Valentin Rongier in injury time.
A cruel scenario that goalkeeper Anthony Lopes reflected on after the game in an interview with Ligue 1+: “We are asking ourselves a lot of questions, what more do we need to do to win a match? It’s true that we had many chances, we can do better offensively. Then, they scored two goals, I conceded a penalty, the referee says I touched him, it’s not how I felt, but that’s part of the game. It’s been bad luck on our side since the start of the season, we’ll have to toughen up and hang in there. This second goal at the end of the match sums up our season, now we have to keep hope. It’s quite complicated, we can’t seem to finish our chances, it’s tough after a game like that.”
Trying to hold onto hope even though he was feeling disillusioned and affected by the course of events during the game which didn’t favor his team, Anthony Lopes tried to stay strong and believe in what looks more and more like a real feat: “I think based on how the game went, I’m not sure we should come out with a defeat, maybe not even a draw, but certainly more. We can search for points, there are only three matches left, that’s the concern. I hope luck will turn our way so we can get a clean sweep. We’ve been a nuisance to our opponents for a month and a half, two months. Now, the only thing we need to do is to gather points, there are nine left. I will keep hope until the end, even if people may think I’m crazy, but I’ll keep hope. There was no speech, everyone is quite down. We’ve had three complicated matches with back and forth scenarios, turnarounds that penalized us. We won’t hide from that. If there’s a disaster at the end of the season, we’ll have to face it and start over for the future.”
Also speaking to the Ligue 1 broadcaster, Nantes coach Vahid Halilhodzic also showed a downcast face. The Bosnian coach was moved by the match’s outcome, which pushes his team closer to Ligue 2: “I’m disappointed, the boys played the way they had to, they created many chances, they fought. But when you create so many chances without scoring, that’s how it goes. They scored the second goal. It’s sad. What can I say? They’re all dejected. I’m not capable tonight of saying anything to the players. I can’t blame them for anything. We’ve shown our limits especially in terms of efficiency and when you come out of a result like that, it’s tough. I don’t know, we have to keep hope, but to keep hope, we have to win. That’s the reality. If we win, of course there is hope. I don’t know, anything is possible. We can find a thousand excuses, but the result is terrible, the only truth is the result. For us, it’s devastating.” Now without any margin for error, Nantes will likely play their last chance on Saturday against Marseille. They will need to quickly recover to hope for a miracle.
Published on 26/04/2026 at 20:14 – Updated on 26/04/2026 at 21:53
