For this match, OGC Nice decided to refresh the team that faced Lyon this Thursday in the Coupe de France. Thus, Benitez is in goal. In defense, Dante will try to redeem himself after his error that led to the Gym’s elimination from the Cup. He is accompanied by Danilo in the center. On the flanks, there’s Hérelle on the right and N’Soki on the left. In midfield, following the injury to Cyprien, Khephren Thuram plays as a holding midfielder. Lees-Melou and Boudaoui support him. Finally, in attack, Dolberg, Ounas, and Claude-Maurice are present.
In the first half, both teams push to try to open the scoring. In an electric atmosphere, it’s the Gym who take action first with Boudaoui going one-on-one with the goalkeeper and causing the foul from Marçal, the last defender on the play. The Lyon defender is sent off by the referee (22nd minute).
Nice, now 11 against 10, push harder and eventually find the breakthrough thanks to Dolberg. On the edge of offside, the Dane takes advantage of a poor clearance by Tatarusanu after a shot from Lees-Melou to score from close range (33rd minute).
However, after this goal, Nice relax somewhat, and Lyon takes advantage. Aouar, who scored the winning goal in the Cup this Thursday, makes a magical run down the left side. He first gets rid of Hérelle and then Danilo and curls his shot past Benitez. The Argentinian goalkeeper sees the ball pass between his legs and finish in the feet of Toko-Ekambi, who just has to push it into the net (45th minute).
The end of the first half becomes completely wild between the two teams. And an incident makes the Allianz Riviera roar. After a foul by Marcelo on Claude-Maurice, the Brazilian defender grabs the Nice player by the shirt to help him up. A scuffle ensues between all the players. Adam Ounas slaps Marcelo during the fight. After consulting both captains, the match referee, M. Bastien, gives Ounas a second yellow card, meaning exclusion, and issues two yellow cards to Marcelo and Claude-Maurice. Both teams then find themselves down to 10 players each.
In the second half, Nice dominate the proceedings. They hold the ball very well and prevent Lyon from leaving their half of the field. It is therefore very logical that Nice scores the third goal of this match. On a run by Claude-Maurice, who had a very good match, Boudaoui, found on the right side, sends a strong cross to the near post. Kasper Dolberg manages to shake off his direct opponent and slides in to meet the ball. Tatarusanu is powerless on his line and sees the ball end up in the back of the net. This marks the first double in Ligue 1 for the Dane.
The end of the match continues to favor Nice, who seek to score another goal, but the post, among other things, will prevent Claude-Maurice and his team from creating a wider gap.
Nice wins 2-1 in this match full of twists and turns. In the standings, the Gym moves level on points with their opponent of the day (8th with 32 points).
