Bordeaux - Nantes: the Atlantic derby | OneFootball

Bordeaux and Nantes face off in the Derby de l'Atlantique — the Atlantic derby — on Saturday with top-flight survival as well as bragging rights at stake — ligue1.com focusses in on one of French football's big rivalries.

THE HISTORY

This is not a classic derby given there are 350km (217 miles) between the two clubs' stadiums, but their geographical position close to France's Atlantic coast and the possibility to lay claim to being 'the best in the west' has seen the rivalry develop since the first 'Atlantico' in September 1947.

WATCH: Bordeaux's derby win at home to Nantes last season

Nantes have the edge with eight league titles to Bordeaux's six, the Canaries dominating the 70s, Bordeaux France's team of the 80s, though both have faded from centre stage since the turn of the millenium. Nantes were the last team to win the Ligue 1 Uber Eats crown before Lyon rattled off seven successive championships between 2002 and 2008; Bordeaux — under Laurent Blanc — claimed the last of their national titles in 2008/09 when Yoann Gourcuff looked like he would dominate the French game for a decade.

Of their 69 top-flight meetings since the 1980/81 season, Bordeaux have won 33 times to Nantes' 19. In fact, the Bretons have triumphed on just one occasion — their 1-0 victory in Round 26 of the 2018/19 campaign — in the duo's last 12 Ligue 1 meetings with Les Girondins winning eight of those games, including both derbies last season.

FAMOUS PLAYERS

Both clubs have nurtured the fledgling talents of superstars. Current France boss Didier Deschamps had a loan spell at Bordeaux but started his pro career at Nantes while his former international teammate, the current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, made his name at Bordeaux. Fellow 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000 winners Bixente Lizarazu, who also lifted the UEFA Champions League with Bayern Munich, and Christophe Dugarry also came to the fore in Les Girondins' instantly recognisable shirt.

Sylvain Wiltord emerged at Rennes but was part of Bordeaux's 1999 title-winning side as was stylish France international playmaker Johan Micoud, who was later succeeded in that role by Gourcuff.

Another Bordeaux success story was Marouane Chamakh — a key player in the 2008/09 success — while Nantes' icons come from a slightly earlier era. Mickaël Landreau made his debut aged just 17 in 1996, the start of a career that would see him make a top-flight record 618 appearances.

Another World Cup winner, Marcel Desailly, also started out in Nantes' famous green-and-yellow as did Christian Karembeu. Claude Makélélé spent five years in their midfield before going on to define his position with Madrid and Chelsea.

WATCH: Nantes' last Atlantic Derby win

Not many players have made the trip across the derby divide. One is Claude Arribas, who didn't actually play for Nantes before moving to Bordeaux in 1974, though his father made a much bigger impression on the club: Jose is credited with developing the 'jeu à la nantaise' (the Nantes playing style) during his 16-year spell as coach (1960-'76) that Nantes are renowned for to this day.

Stéphane Ziani, who currently works in Nantes' youth academy, started his career at Nantes, then went for two spells in Bordeaux before returning to Nantes in 2000. The late Emiliano Sala started his career in Europe at Bordeaux after joining them from his native Argentina in 2010. He made a handful of first-team appearances before moving on to Nantes in 2015.

THIS SEASON

The goalless draw between the pair on the opening day of the campaign was — unfortunately — a sign of things to come. Nantes have only been out of the bottom half of the table only once — after Round 2 — and have found themselves in the bottom three since the 2-0 loss to Lille in Round 24 in early February.

That defeat came under Raymond Domenech, the former France coach who is one of four men — along with Christian Gourcuff, interim boss Patrick Collot, and current coach Antoine Kombouaré — to sit in their dug-out in a turbulent 2020/21 season.

While Nantes have not kept a clean sheet in 17 top-flight matches — an unwanted club record — and have not won any of their last 14 home games in L1, their fans can take some comfort from the fact that Bordeaux are not much better off.

Jean-Louis Gasset has been their coach all this season, but the experienced former France and Paris Saint-Germain assistant boss to Blanc has seen the club's owners withdraw financial support as the campaign has gone from average to bad to worse.

Les Girondins — nicknamed after the Gironde region in which Bordeaux lies — had slipped perillously close to the bottom three with a miserable run of five successive defeats, and only gave themselves some breathing space thanks to last weekend's 1-0 victory over Rennes.

Though they have a five-point gap between themselves and their 18th-placed opponents, Gasset's men have won just once in their last seven away games and lost the other six. A long-awaited derby victory for Nantes, who have triumphed in their last two top-flight matches, would drag Bordeaux back into the relegation battle.

>> PROFILE: Rennes' Belgian winger Jérémy Doku

>> OPINION: Hop on the Ligue 1 managerial merry-go-round