Anthony Lopez falls into the arms of Nicolas Pallois before clapping the hands of all his new teammates. The former Lyon goalkeeper is all smiles. Author of a very courageous and defensively solid match Nantes snatched a very good point from Lille (1-1)
For this resumption match, all eyes were on Anthony Lopez, who had fallen out of favor in Lyon where he had fallen to… 4th place in the goalkeeper hierarchy this season. After 489 matches played with his training club, the 34-year-old Portuguese international signed this week for Nantes.
In his usual leaping style, Lopes saved his new team on a point-blank attempt from Benjamin André (26th). But he couldn't do anything about Lille's opening goal. If Rémy Cabella's curled shot is repelled by the crossbar, Swedish international defender Gabriel Gudmundsson volleys back and scores his first goal of the season (1-0, 40th).
From the restart (48th), Nantes believes they have equalized after a nice collective movement concluded by Ignatus Ganago, announced in recent days very close to a transfer to MLS. But the joy of the scorer who had not scored in L1 since June 3, 2023 and the people of Nantes was dampened by the intervention of the VAR which refused the goal for an offside position by Johann Lepenant at the start of the action .
While they were rather in difficulty, Antoine Kombouaré's players nevertheless managed to equalize on a penalty obtained by Mostafa Mohamed and transformed by Matthis Abline (1-1, 70th). The best Nantes striker in recent weeks scores his 4th goal in Ligue 1 this season.
As for Anthony Lopez, he is still present to preserve the draw point by intervening on Rémy Cabella's cross-shot (90th + 2). Nantes is still in danger (15th) but its performance for a member of the Top 5 remains a source of hope for the future. “If we stay solid and united like that, we can compete with any team,” said Nantes midfielder Johann Lepenant on DAZN.
If it signed an 18th match in a row without defeat in all competitions, Lille was rather timid. One stat seems telling: Jonathan David finished the game with zero shots. Still 4th, Lille could be joined by Lyon if they beat Montpellier this Saturday evening.
