FC Nantes boss Antoine Kombouaré was well pleased with his side after they clinched a 1-1 draw away to Juventus in the first leg of their Europa League Knockout Round Play-offs on Thursday, Ludovic Blas bagging a superb leveller after Dusan Vlahovic had opened the scoring early.
Les Canaris have everything to play for at the Stade de la Beaujoire next Thursday following the excellent performance in Turin that, in the absence of the away-goals rule, means a place in the round of 16 is very much within their grasp.
"Congratulations to my players, who were heroic and solid," said Nantes coach Antoine Kombouaré, who has instilled a fighting spirit and self belief in his Coupe de France winning side since taking the reins just over two years ago. "We knew we were going to suffer, but we stuck together. We lacked precision in the first half and when I saw it go 1-0 in the 13th minute, I told myself tit was going to be complicated for us. We were better in the second half. We knew we had to score and we managed to do it."
Nantes have a tough league trip to Lens this weekend in Round 24, but with just one defeat in their last nine league outings, Les Canaris have every reason to back themselves when they play host to the more-fancied Juventus in the return leg in France in a week's time.
"After that, to pull off the upset, which would be something crazy, we'll have to play two big games," said Kombouaré. "And the hardest thing will be next Thursday, because Juve are frustrated and they will come to us with plenty of ambition."