Determined and united, Frédéric Antonetti’s men found the necessary resources to hold out until the end against the finest team in this Ligue 1 championship, which had however suffered two consecutive defeats (2-0 against Toulouse, 1-2 against Bordeaux) and was eager to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd. The commando spirit requested by the island coach before the break was indeed present on the field Saturday evening, as well as in Nice’s play, and everyone hopes that the goal scored by Bakary Koné will be the detonator for the new red and black surge.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a happy locker room and tonight, my thoughts are with Maurice Cohen.” Frédéric Antonetti, still unsure of his fate, could feel a sense of duty fulfilled and added, “We finished with five 20-year-olds and one 18-year-old. Lyon is a great European team and we are happy to have drawn on their turf.” “With all the twists during the week, we wanted to show that we were a courageous team. We held on, we deserved this draw, we tried not to shut down the game.” Florent Balmont also remembers this great performance and hopes for better days.
Indeed, Bakary Koné was the providential goal scorer of the evening, but once again, OGC Nice owes a great deal to its goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, whose high-level performance cooled the usual Saturday night fever at Gerland. On the Lyon side, Baros marked his arrival with a goal and a yellow card while Govou and Cris were the best gones on the field.
And now…
Yesterday, the performance was beautiful. Today, spirits are probably a bit more freed, but it is now time to think about tomorrow.
And this famous tomorrow consists of two crucial home games against Bordeaux (03/02) and Troyes (10/02). Thus, it remains to be hoped that the month of February, the shortest of the year, allows the eaglets to gather a maximum of points so as not to make it the longest month in everyone’s minds.
Important therefore to capitalize on the two matches at the Ray and then go challenge Valenciennes on their ground (17/02) before hosting the Lille team of a certain Claude Puel (24/02).
For the moment, the ranking is not yet smiling at the Nice players who are still stuck in nineteenth place, synonymous with relegation, three points away from Nantes who missed a great opportunity to escape the red zone by losing at home to Lorient (0-2) and four points away from Paris Saint Germain and Troyes who had to settle for a draw against Sochaux (0-0) and Toulouse (1-1).
The future seems less grim for a Gym orphaned of a President and whose result of the board meeting held today is awaited by all the supporters who can still savor for a few more days this wonderful “Lyon jackpot.”
See the goals in video at www.ogcnice.com
