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No joy at the Beaujoire

There was no cause for cheer at the of FC Nantes Atlantique's match with Boavista FC.

Boavista FC coach Jaime Pacheco defended his side's reputation after criticism from his FC Nantes Atlantique counterpart, Angel Marcos, following their 1-1 draw at the Beaujoire stadium on Wednesday night.

Little cause for cheer
The Portuguese champions' failure to win ended their hopes of staying in the UEFA Champions League and, with Nantes already eliminated from the competition and facing a relegation battle on the home front, there was little cause for cheer at the final whistle.

'A tough game'
What there was instead were words of criticism from Marcos about Boavista's approach. "Boavista played a very tough game and a game that was sometimes outside of the rules," he said. The Nantes coach added: "Boavista do not deserve a quarter-final place, they did not play well enough."

'We were the better team'
Pachecho disagreed and insisted his side were unfortunate not to claim their first away win in this season's competition. "The players are strong defensively but they are not bad players - they respect the laws of the game," he said. "We were the better team tonight. I'm very disappointed."

Offside decision
Boavista fought back from conceding a Viorel Moldovan goal shortly before the break to level 12 minutes from the end through Martelinho, a second-half substitute. They had the ball in the net a second time, soon afterwards, only for an offside flag to annul Márcio's effort. "I think the referee should have allowed a second goal, which was denied us by an offside that wasn't," said Pacheco.

Room for improvement
The Boavista coach then underlined the importance of a strong finish in the 1. Liga, to ensure a return to next year's Champions League. "We have shown we can do well in this competition and I hope we can come back next year and reach the quarter-finals," he said. Considering this 1-1 draw brought Boavista their first away point since their Matchday One stalemate at Liverpool FC, it is clear where they will have to improve should Pacheco get his wish of further progress next season.

'Good preparation'
As for Marcos, his ambitions were more modest: namely to avoid the drop. The Nantes coach apologised to the Nantes supporters for fielding a weakened side - Nestor Fabbri, Mathieu Berson and Patrick Vahirua were relegated to the bench, and Sylvain Armand rested with an eye on Saturday's visit to AS Monaco FC - but said: "I hope this match will be a good preparation for what is more important for us - the domestic league. We'll have more matches like this in the coming weeks."

Dreaming stops
Whether his criticism of Boavista was justified, it would be hard to argue with Marcos's observation of his own side that, "Only a dreamer would have thought we could win the Champions League". The dreaming has now stopped for Boavista too. 

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