Nantes beat Monaco to reach Coupe de France showdown against Nice

Nantes moved into their first Coupe de France final for more than 20 years with a penalty shoot-out victory over Monaco.

Moses Simon scored the decisive penalty during the shoot-out against Monaco to send Nantes into the final of the Coupe de France for the first time since 2000. REUTERS - STEPHANE MAHE

The match at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Wednesday night ended 2-2 after extra-time.

And Antoine Kombouaré's men won the shoot-out 4-2 to unleash scenes of joy as hundreds of supporters from the 34,000 crowd flooded onto the pitch.

"I'm pleased and really proud of the players," said Kombouaré. "It's incredible what we've done and to see so many happy fans on the pitch afterwards ... it's brilliant."

Nantes started the game on the front foot against last year's Coupe de France finalists.

But after 12 minutes, Monaco opened the scoring against the run of play as Guillermo Maripan rose unchallenged in the penalty area to head in Caio Henrique's free-kick from the left.

Leveller

Ten minutes later, it was all square.

Kolo Muani surged down the right on a counter-attack and tried to centre for Moses Simon but the Monaco defender Djibril Sidibé - in trying to stop Simon from getting the ball - stuck a foot out and diverted it past his goalkeeper Alexander Nuebel.

With 16 minutes remaining, the hosts took the lead through Samuel Moutoussamy but Monaco levelled within two minutes. Myron Boadu used a combination of his head and shoulder to get the ball past Nantes goalkeeper Remy Descamps.

During the shoot-out Descamps repelled the penalty of Wissam Ben Yedder to give his side the advantage. Aurélien Tchouameni also missed for Monaco. Moses Simon swept home the decisive kick for Nantes.

 "Of course I'm disappointed," said Monaco boss Philippe Clément. "Both sides played well and went for it. Penalty shoot-outs are always something of a lottery. Nantes had the crowd behind them and we were unlucky."

Nantes, who have not lifted the Coupe de France trophy since 2000, will take on Nice in the final on 8 May at the Stade de France.