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Lyon were knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue by Nantes on Tuesday, losing for the first time under Gérard Houllier. In the night’s other first round match, Lorient beat Amiens.
The French champions almost lost the game in normal time after falling behind to Mamadou Diallo’s goal on the half hour, but they managed to force extra time as Sidney Govou scored in the 90th minute.
After a further 30 scoreless minutes, the tie went to a penalty shootout - and to the delight of the majority of the fans at La Beaujoire it was Nantes who prevailed.
Mickaël Landreau kept out penalties from John Carew and Florent Malouda, and, though Loic Guillon missed for the home side, Jérémy Toulalan was on hand to fire home Les Canaris’ fifth spot kick, thus sealing a 4-3 win.
Lyon had gone into the match with a below-strength starting eleven, of which only Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra and Govou could claim to be first-team regulars.
Yet Nantes deserve plenty of credit for the win and will feel that some justice has been done. Earlier in the season they dominated a home Ligue 1 clash with Lyon, only to lose 1-0 after some astounding goalkeeping from Grégory Coupet.
There was no Coupet in the Lyon goal on Tuesday - and his stand-in Rémy Vercoutre was duly beaten by Diallo’s powerful shot, which came at the end of half an hour of pressure from the home side.
Houllier introduced Jérémy Berthod, Malouda and Carew in the second half, and his side looked to have got out of jail when Govou latched onto Carew’s flick to score very late leveller.
Lyon were the better side in extra-time but could not beat Landreau, who went on to become the hero of the evening during the penalty shootout.
Lyon were knocked out of the competition by Lille at the same stage last season, but this defeat represents their first in 16 competitive matches under Houllier.
There was one other first-round tie on Tuesday and that also went the full distance. In an all-Ligue 2 affair, Lorient were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Amiens, but went on to clinch victory 5-4 in the penalty shootout.
Sylvain Marchal gave the Brittany side the lead on 14 minutes before two goals from Philippe Cedran and Luzolo Kinkela turned the game on its head before the break.
Johan Audel forced extra-time when he scored for Lorient in the 87th minute - and the home team duly booked their place in the last 16.
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