Nantes lifted the French Cup for the first time in 22 years

Antoine Kombouare, an ex-Nantes player who was the first coach sacked by Paris Saint-Germain following the Qatari takeover, stated, "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would coach Nantes and win a trophy. We came from nowhere. We could have finished in Ligue 2 last year. Now we're going to play in the Europa League and the Champions Trophy, it's hard to believe. It's incredible, almost a miracle."

Nantes is in the limelight while Nice faces criticism.

Nantes evaded relegation in a play-off last season, and this year, they lifted the French Cup for the fourth time and qualified for Europe for the first time in 20 years. It seemed that Nice, owned by Ineos, the group chaired by Monaco-based British petrochemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, would seamlessly qualify for the Champions League but now are about to miss out on Europe altogether. After the two finals took place in an almost empty stadium because of the pandemic, a crowd of around 80,000 packed the Stade de France, out of which two-thirds were Nantes fans. 

Nice defeated Paris Saint Germain and Marseille, who were eliminated as the club entered their first final since 1997 but couldn't utilise Amine Gouiri and Kasper Dolberg's potential as the duo has failed to score even a single goal in the league since January. Goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, the PSG loanee who worked hard to eliminate his parent club on penalties in the last 16, as Blas ran towards the box, with Gouiri taking a shot that deflected wide in a chaotic first half.

Galtier was disheartened over Nice's defeat.

PSG failed to advance to the final for the first time since 2014 because Hicham Boudaoui was penalised for a handball by Stephanie Frappart after half-time. Blas shot the ball towards the middle past Bulka as the Nantes players and fans began to celebrate. Pedro Chirivella almost scored another goal as he made a wide hit following a corner. Still, Jordan Lotomba made a crucial block to prevent Moses Simon from converting Randal Kolo Muani's cutback.

Meanwhile, Nice received the best opportunity to score with 20 minutes left as Alban Lafont outsmarted Gouiri before Nantes defender Andrei Girotto set up a goal-line clearance to stop Andy Delort. Galtier, who left Lille after leading them to the Ligue 1 crown last season, walked into Nice but his first season with them failed. "We didn't play very well in the final, but we have the possibility to get a European place in the league. We're going to do everything for it," stated Galtier.