PARIS: Nantes’ Ludovic Blas scored a second half penalty to give his team a 1-0 victory over Nice on Saturday and win Coupe de France for the fourth time and their first since 2000.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would coach Nantes and win a trophy,” said Antoine Kombouare, an ex-Nantes player who was the first coach sacked by Paris St-Germain following the Qatari takeover.

“We came from nowhere. We could have finished in Ligue 2 last year. Now we’re going to play in the Europa League and the Champions Trophy, it’s hard to believe.

Nantes, who only avoided relegation in a play-off last season, lifted the French Cup for the fourth time and qualified for Europe for the first time in two decades.

For much of the season, Nice looked certain to qualify for the Champions League but after a recent stumble could miss out on Europe altogether.

“It’s disappointing. When you get to the final and have this magnificent trophy, you do everything to try and win it,” said Nice coach Christophe Galtier.

Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, the PSG loanee who helped dump out his parent club on penalties in the last 16, smothered well as Blas darted into the box, with Gouiri then having a shot deflected wide in a gritty first half.

A first final without PSG since 2014 burst into life 15 seconds after half-time when Hicham Boudaoui was harshly penalised for a handball by Stephanie Frappart, the first woman to referee a French Cup final.

Blas hammered the resulting spot-kick straight down the middle past Bulka, sparking euphoric celebrations from the Nantes players and fans.

Pedro Chirivella nearly grabbed a second as he blasted just wide following a corner, with Jordan Lotomba making a crucial block to deny Moses Simon from Randal Kolo Muani’s cutback.

Nice’s best opportunity came with 20 minutes to play as Alban Lafont palmed away from Gouiri before Nantes defender Andrei Girotto produced a superb goal-line clearance to thwart Andy Delort.

Earlier, Strasbourg moved back into the fifth place after beating Brest 1-0 in their Ligue 1 match courtesy of Kevin Gamiero’s goal in the 72nd minute.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2022