Forty-five years after its previous success in the event, OM won the Gambardella Cup by dominating Nancy in the final, this Saturday in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (3-1). For Christian Bracconi’s team, the meeting initially looked like a recital, with Keyliane Abdallah opening the score in the 6th minute. On this action, his direct opponent, Paul Diomandé, was injured (he was replaced in the 10th), and the Nancy defense was not yet completely recovered when a new rush from the same Abdallah, nephew of Toifilou Maoulida, opened the way to the second goal for Mathis Clément (2-0, 14th).
But OM was too quickly satisfied with this advantage, allowed Bismark Adomah to create danger in his left lane then the entire Lorraine team to play their game. He was punished just before the break, with a penalty scored by Yanis Delaveau (45th). On the restart, Hugo Morrone missed a huge opportunity to equalize (47th). But Gaston Curbelo’s team was affected by fatigue, which prevented it from extending its series of unbeaten matches to 35 this season.
Nancy gave in after the break
She ended up giving in completely in the 74th minute with a powerful strike from Gaël Lafont then a goal from Adam Nosel at the end of added time (90th + 6). But she had already suffered two big scares, with a shot from Yakine Saïd M’Madi on the goalkeeper (55th) and a header from Abdallah on the post (64th).
Just before the third Olympian goal, the match was interrupted for around ten minutes by the referee of the match, Dorian Boloventa, because Parisian supporters awaiting the final between PSG and OL had thrown a flag at the Marseille goalkeeper in plastic. And after Marseille’s third goal, this time it was Lyon supporters, in the opposite corner, who tried to fight with the scorer, guilty of having expressed his joy too strongly under their noses.
