FC Nantes host Juventus in a UEFA Europa League knockout round playoff second leg on Thursday in what will be the most prestigious continental game to have taken place at Stade de la Beaujoire in years. Expect a carnival atmosphere of yellow and green as Les Canaris celebrate bringing one of Europe’s biggest names to Pays de la Loire decades after their heyday.
Manchester United’s clash with Barcelona elsewhere in the draw has been described by many as a UEFA Champions League tie taking place in the UEL but, difficult as it may be to believe now, Nantes against Juventus was genuinely a UCL semifinal less than 30 years ago. Back in 1996, the Italian giants under Marcello Lippi were making their way to the Champions League title for the second and most recent time in their history.
Antonio Conte was part of La Vecchia Signora’s squad alongside legendary names such as Alessandro Del Piero, the late Gianluca Vialli, and Fabrizio Ravanelli. Standing in their way in the semifinals was an underrated Nantes which had won the seventh of its eight Ligue 1 titles in 1995 and also reached the UEFA Cup quarterfinals that same year.
Although not quite at the same level of their success in the 1970s and 1980s which is best illustrated by their staggering 92-game unbeaten home run between 1976-81, Nantes still set a record that modern Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain are yet to better — one single defeat in the entire 1994-95 campaign. Later, three years after their meeting with Juve in the Champions League, La Maison Jaune would win back-to-back Coupe de France titles, yet it is their European forays that many remember Nantes for. FCN youth academy graduate Didier Deschamps was in the Juve ranks for this one while a young Claude Makelele was making a name for himself in western France under the leadership of club legend Jean-Claude Suaudeau and Japhet N’Doram was a star turn.
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