Black evening, or at least very dark gray, for French clubs in the European Cup. Apart from Rennes, which will play at least the play-offs of the knockout phase thanks to its victory against Kyiv (0-1), Nantes, Monaco and Nice have offered us three defeats in as many games. Canaries and Monegasques even completely sank, beaten 4 to 0 by Friborg and Trabzonspor.
Sharply beaten by Fribourg, Nantes in bad shape
When it does not want, it does not want. Facing Friborg on their home ground, at La Beaujoire, FC Nantes did not have to be ashamed of their performance and could even have taken the advantage twice in the first period, if the header of Moussa Sissoko (12th) and the floating shot from Sébastien Corchia (20th) had not found the bar and then the post from Mark Flekken. A cruel lack of success, especially since in the process, on their first big situation of the match, the Germans took the advantage thanks to a lightning half-volley from their side Lukas Kübler (0-1, 26th).
Unable to pick up the score, the Canaries let the Germans create situations for themselves and on a lost ball from Corchia, Gregoritsch inherited the leather in the area to crucify Lafont with a superb pivot shot (0-2, 71st). At the end of the match, Nantes sank with a third goal signed Kevin Schade (0-3, 81st), on a shot blocked following a new error signed Castelletto, then a fourth signed Wooyeong Jeong (0-4, 87th), at the end of the match. on the lookout to transform a ball badly repelled by Lafont. With 4 small points garnered, Nantes, which has a seventh match in all competitions without a win, is still 3rd in its group, 4 points behind Karabagh, who conceded a draw against Olympiakos (0-0).
Rennes take the lead of their group
A first tenure celebrated as it should be. Aligned from the start by Bruno Génésio alongside Arthur Theate in central defense against Dynamo Kyiv, former Lensois Christopher Wooh also scored his first goal in the Europa League, on the lookout for a well deflected corner in the surface by Lorenz Assignon (0-1, 48th). A great moment for the young Cameroonian international, who then put Stade Rennais on the right track in a group B where he is now in the lead, with 10 points, and still undefeated. The Rennais were then content to preserve their advantage, against the Ukrainians who did not carry much danger in front of Steve Mandanda’s goal.
Monaco collapse at Trabzonspor
For Trabzonspor, Christmas came early this year. And the gift was provided by Alexander Nübel and Malang Sarr. A few seconds before half-time, the two Monegasques split from an ugly misunderstanding which gave birth to a goal against his side completely gag, giving the advantage to the Turkish club (1-0, 44th). Monaco was however perfectly back in this match, chaining the chances with in particular a sumptuous strike from Fofana, slammed spectacularly by Çakır. But this goal will hurt them a lot. Upon returning from the locker room, Vitor Hugo, who had just entered the game, transformed with his head a good corner from Bakasetas (2-0, 48th). Stunned, Monaco will let Trabzonspor fly away: less than ten minutes later, Enis Bardhi slipped a clever free kick under the Monegasque wall (3-0, 57th), then it was the Egyptian Trézéguet who took advantage of a loss ball from Vanderson to face – and beat – Nübel (4-0, 69th).
Nice can be blamed
Faced with the red lantern of group D Slovácko (Czech Republic), which he had beaten last week (0-1), OGC Nice will be able to harbor some regrets. Offensive from the start of the match in an Allianz Riviera behind closed doors, the Aiglons nevertheless opened the scoring through Sofiane Diop, helped by Danicek’s deflection to deceive Nguyen (1-0, 14th). Despite good chances from Thuram (19th), Pépé and Lotomba (33rd), Delort (37th) and Bryan (40th), Nice did not manage to make the break before the break. Apart from the conceded goal, the opposing goalkeeper was also decisive, repelling attempts by Delort (55th, 57th) and Pépé (57th) in the second half. A festival of missed opportunities sanctioned by the Czechs, with the equalizer signed by Tomic at the very end of the match (1-1, 75th) then… by a double penalty: red card for Todibo, goal from a direct free kick by Reinberk (1-2, 87th). Still 2nd in their group, the Aiglons let their evening opponent come back to a small point in the standings.
