“Moments like that, we would like to experience them every year, even more with FC Nantes“, says ex-striker Antoine Sibierski, a bit moved when reopening the memory box. On the edge of the abyss in the championship, the Canaries see in the Coupe de France a huge breath of fresh air. A “gang of friends“, says Charles Devineau who will offer himself the scalp of neighboring Rennes and then Bordeaux to climb again to the final, just one year after winning the competition a second time.
From this May 7, 2000, we will not remember the match against the valiant amateurs of Calais but an image, that of the captain Mickaël Landreau inviting Réginald Becque to raise the trophy together. “It’s an image etched for life“, confides the emblematic doorman of the Yellows.
Nantes will struggle to get their third trophy
“Before the match, we say to ourselves that it is probably the meeting of a career and a life.says ex-midfielder Charles Devineau. We are therefore torn between bringing a stone to the building and the fear of disappointing.“In front of some 78,717 people, Calais fans do better than resist against Landreau, Gillet, Da Rocha, Sibierski and others. They even allow themselves to take the advantage at the half-hour mark thanks to Jérôme Dutitre. Before the center-forward of the Yellows enforces the hierarchy by equalizing at the start of the second half before allowing the first division club to win in extremis thanks to a contentious penalty again converted by Antoine Sibierski, after a foul on Alain Caveglia.
When we go to get the Cup, we are all arm in arm with the friends, in front of the supporters, it is an immense joy.
“We were a collective and without my teammates, I could not have scored all these goals in the league, in the European Cup and in the French Cupsalutes the double scorer, currently in the process of passing his coaching diplomas. It was perhaps Raynald Denoueix who made me understand that the collective was far more important than the individual.“A trophy that had a much more pleasant flavor than the previous year when the player then left for Lens, Manchester City and Newcastle had to give up playing in the final due to injury.
– Francois Giullot
The “Buddy” Cup
But a trophy raised between friends is priceless. “These are great memoriesrewinds, moved, Charles Devineau, now coach of La Roche-sur-Yon VF. We came out of the young teams of FC Nantes, training. VSwas a great success. When we go to get the Cup, we are all arm in arm with the friends, in front of the supporters, it is an immense joy. In the locker room between us, when the President of the Republic comes to see us, it’s a whole mixture of beautiful emotions that comes back.”
From this final, there will remain a magnificent image, engraved in the annals.
The handshake with Jacques Chirac in the presidential forum respected, Mickaël Landreau will invite his counterpart to brandish the Cup in the sky of Saint-Denis. An image that will go around all the news of the next day and the days that will follow. “We all come from amateur clubs with sixte tournaments, volunteerspays tribute to the man who now embodies the project of the Collectif Nantais. So, in the afternoon, I tell myself that if we win, I will propose it to Réginald Becque and what’s great is that I always have him on the phone, we often talk. From this final, there will remain a magnificent image, engraved in the annals.”
– Frank Perry
“When I raise the Cup to the sky, it’s for my mother”
The third Nantes trophy in the Coupe de France will then pass from hand to hand. “Right away, when I raise the Cup to the sky, it’s for my mom that I had lost five months earlierblows Antoine Sibierski. I had a big thought for her, for my dad, obviously my wife but also for the supporters. It was enjoyable, I knew several clubs, I won elsewhere but I think that, apart from Newcastle in England, I have never felt as much pleasure on the pitch as in Nantes.“A pleasure that will be increased tenfold a week later when the Canaries save their skins in a game that looks like the final against Le Havre in the race to maintain.”We were badly ranked in the league, and at no time did I feel a bad spirit above usgreets Sibierski today in England. They were still there, and more of them.“
I almost want to say that we find what we experienced more than 20 years ago.
And they will undoubtedly be, this Saturday evening, still tens of thousands to grow. “I think it’s 50-50, it’s opensays Mickaël Landreau. If it had been Paris opposite in the final, I would not have said the same thing“For his part, Charles Devineau advances a little more.”I think they’re going to get it this final, that they’re going to lift the trophyhe assures. Anthony [Kombouaré, ndlr] did great work, no one escapes. They have a striker, Randal Kolo Muani, whom I know well having had him in U19 and who is having an extraordinary season. I almost want to say that we find what we experienced more than 20 years ago.“
– Francois Guillot