It’s midnight in the Stade de France locker room. Coupe de France in the arms, the coach of Toulouse Philippe Montanier, leads the joyful farandole, followed by his players. Some hold a beer in their hands. “There is also champagne, we drank, danced, sang,” smiles captain Brecht Dejaegere.
The players each wear several sets of t-shirts with evocative inscriptions: “Le Capitole Violet”, “A Trophy in the hands”, “The European Cup on Canal…” Logan Costa, author of a double is nicely chambered. “It’s crazy, he scored twice like Zizou at the Stade de France”, laugh Farès Chaïbi and Zakaria Aboukhlal.
“There is a lot of pride”
More calm, Dejaegere can savor and remember: “When I arrived in Toulouse in 2020, for my first match in L2, there were only 4,000 spectators at the Stadium. Where we come from and winning the Cup is just a fairy tale… The Nantes supporters were much more numerous but we only heard ours, even at 0-0. That’s wonderful. »
On Friday during the press conferences, the almost carefree relaxation of coach Philippe Montanier and Dejaegere contrasted with the closed and more serious faces of Nantes residents Antoine Kombouaré and Ludovic Blas. Téfécé succeeded in transposing this state of mind, knocking Nantes out from the start. “We were really into it, recognizes Dejaegere. There are the tactics, the physical but also the mental. We had morale and self-confidence. You shouldn’t be afraid of a match like that. In Belgium, I lost two finals with the Gantoise. I know that feeling of frustration. I didn’t want it. I just saw an old supporter who told me it was the best day of his life… He was in tears. Me, it almost gave me some too. There is a lot of pride. Here we are in the present moment. But we will realize what we have done when we are done with our career. »
In 2014, Philippe Montanier lost a Coupe de France final on the Rennes bench against Guingamp. After the title of French Ligue 2 champion in 2022, the 58-year-old coach won the second title of his career with a club where he also played. “There is pride in having won with style. It is an immense joy. My players had a fantastic game. I am happy to celebrate this success with the whole club and supporters. We marked the history of the club and the Coupe de France. We’ve been preparing for the final for a while. The planets were aligned. We took advantage of the fragility of Nantes at the moment. We thought of a strong start from Nantes which has a big vertical game. It was easier to put our game down by leading the score quickly. »
“Of course we will play the Europa League”
President Damien Comolli, who arrived in Toulouse when the Americans bought RedBird Capital club in 2020, had trouble hiding his emotion: “We would never have imagined this scenario. We worked to prepare for this match, I have never seen a club work so hard to prepare for a match. Winning like we did… It’s impossible to imagine. The emotion is indescribable. There is something illogical, irrational in what we did, it’s the beauty of football. We spend our days trying to bring rationality to the irrational, bringing emotion to the city and to our supporters, but tonight we are in the irrational. »
Then asked about the possibility of not participating in the Europa League due to common owners with AC Milan, the president of the TFC was very clear: “Of course we will play it. We provided all the documents, everything required by UEFA to enter European competitions”.
It’s 12:30 a.m. at the Stade de France and the start time has come. First, head to the hotel to find families and loved ones. Then on to the party. “Me, I’m a bit old and I’m going to let myself be carried away. But the night will be long, ”promises Dejaegere. The players have an appointment at 6 p.m. this Sunday on the Place du Capitole in Toulouse.
