There are covers with fanfare and others full of hiccups and wrong notes. That of Ligue 1 this Friday between Bordeaux and Nantes clearly falls into the second category. 166 days after the final cessation of the 2019-2020 championship because of the health crisis, Ligue 1 has resumed its rights. But then gently and, above all, slowly. In a very sad Atlantic Matmut with this gauge of only 5,000 spectators, those absent were right.
This Atlantic derby drank the cup to end with a painful 0-0. The lack of rhythm was quickly felt. Between Nantes residents whose preparation was truncated by numerous cases of Covid-19 and the Girondins de Bordeaux that the new coach, Jean-Louis Gasset, had never before led, we should not expect neither miracles nor goals. And there was none. If the match never really started, it ended somewhere after twenty minutes with the severe expulsion of young Mehdi Zerkane, excluded for a sole more involuntary than wicked on the Nantes player Nicolas Pallois.
"We are satisfied with this point"
From there, between the Girondins outnumbered and Nantes who came for a point, the meeting refused to take off. Despite a few flashes of a strike from Basic diverted by Lafont (37th) or a cheeky attempt to lob from Otavio (39th).
The second half was like a long retreat. “We are satisfied with this point, wants to reassure Laurent Koscielny. We can be satisfied with our service. “More lucid, the Nantes player Nicolas Pallois plague the inability of Nantes to take advantage of numerical superiority. “We can play for two hours, we wouldn't score,” he rages. We missed the speed. Bordeaux would have played nine, it wouldn't have changed anything for us. "
The only advantage of this sad spectacle is that the rest of the championship could hardly be duller. At least we want to hope so.