14 February 2023
European football returns to Allianz Stadium on Thursday 16 February with the visit of Nantes in the first leg of the Europa League knock-out round play-offs.
The Ligue 1 side have won the French title eight times, most recently in 2000/01. However, silverware arrived last season via the Coupe de France, the fourth French Cup win in club history, which led the team into Europe after an 18-year absence.
Let's find out more about the side from the Loire.
SEASON SO FAR
Nantes suffered a difficult start to their season, winning just two and losing nine of their 15 matches in all competitions until mid-October. One of those victories came against Olympiacos in the Europa League, which would prove vital to the Canaries' qualification to the play-offs.
After defeating Olympiacos 2-1 at home in Matchday 1 of Group G - the winning goal arriving in the 93rd minute - Nantes lost six of the following seven fixtures, including three in Europa League.
Back-to-back losses to Group G eventual winners Freiburg followed defeat away to Qarabağ, with seven goals conceded without reply.
However, the return match against the side from Azerbaijan proved pivotal to the balance of the group. Nantes won 2-1, again thanks to a stoppage time decider, and in the final matchday defeated Olympiacos in Greece while Qarabağ were held in Baku by Freiburg.
The Matchday 6 results saw Nantes book a place in the play-offs as they leapfrogged Qarabağ into second place.
THE COACH
Antoine Kombouaré is in his third season as coach at Nantes, a team he represented as a player for seven years. He took over the reins in February 2021 and kept Les Canaris in Ligue 1 by defeating the team that had sacked him earlier that same season, Toulouse, in the relegation play-offs.
Last season he led the club to its first trophy since the 2001 Trophée des Champions, the french equaivalent of the Super Cup, by defeaing Nice 1-0 in the final of the Coupe de France
KEEP AN EYE ON...
Top scorer for the French outfit this season, with eight goals scored, is Mohamed Mostafa, an Egyptian striker on loan from Galatasaray. Two of his goals have come in the Europa League, where he is the team's top scorer along with Ludovic Blas. The number 10 is the second-top scorer overall and the player with the most playing time this season, after goalkeeper and captain Alban Lafont.
Only Lorenzo Pellegrini and Anastasios Bakasetas, both on six, have been involved in more goals than Blas, with two goals and three assists in this season's Europa League.
In the last session of the transfer market, Nantes strengthened the squad with two players brought in on loan and two outright signings.
Joao Victor from Benfica and Andy Delort from Nice (with whom he had scored 6 goals in the first part of the season in Ligue 1) have been signed on a temporary basis. Meanwhile, Jaouen Hadjam, born in 2003, from Paris FC, and Florent Mollet, from Schalke 04, penned permamante deals,
