Mish'an Twice Answers the Debt Bordeaux Thought They'd Collected

The Matmut Atlantique had already begun to hum with the old, half-forgotten arithmetic of revenge when Omer Mish'an took the ball on the left and bent it beyond Valentino Lazăr for the second time. Twenty-two minutes earlier Bordeaux had been two goals clear and the March humiliation — that 6-0 — seemed finally to have found its answer. Now the scoreboard read 2-2, and the away end, which had travelled with tired legs and few expectations, was singing again.

Bordeaux's opening was everything our preview promised and more. Emanuele Di Mascio, who had been detailed against Cristian Armengol, put them ahead on 22 minutes, and five minutes later Renzo García, starting in place of the benched Wilgot Freiman, doubled the lead. Twice Bordeaux struck the woodwork; twice Nantes survived. Jaime, the pulse of the home side, finished with an assist and a night's work of 13.8 kilometres.

But Nantes had Mish'an where Abdallah Falah usually stands, and it was Mish'an who changed the argument. His first, on 59 minutes, came just as Freiman was being readied on the touchline. His second, on 73, followed Domingos Gomes's introduction and a reorganisation into a back four; Gomes supplied the pass. Mish'an finished with two goals, a key pass and 13.5 kilometres, and a booking for his trouble.

Our preview expected tired legs and old boys in the away dressing room. The legs were heavy — Nantes changed three at half-time — and Adama Doukar, once of Bordeaux, was not among them. What we did not foresee was that the leaders, missing so many regulars, would simply refuse to lose. They stay top. Bordeaux, eleventh at the start, will feel this as a defeat. Twice they led the argument; they could not finish it.