While Nice absolutely had to win to still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stage, they lost for the second time against Slavia Prague, this time at home (1-3).
At the kickoff, Patrick Vieira decided to change his usual game plan since the start of the season. Thus, he set up a four-man defense with Atal and Lotomba on the sides and Bambu and N’Soki in the center. The midfield had a very offensive focus with Schneiderlin positioned as the sole defensive midfielder. The two players flanking him were Reine-Adelaïde and Rony Lopes. In attack, Myziane Maolida and Alexis Claude-Maurice supported Amine Gouiri.
The home team took control of the ball right from the start of the match and showed that they quickly regained their rhythm after nearly three weeks without official matches (the Marseille-Nice game was postponed due to COVID-19 cases).
But as often since Dante’s injury, the defense faltered and quickly found itself in great danger. Czech midfielder Ondrej Lingr took advantage of Nice’s passivity to advance into their half and shoot from the edge of the box. The ball nestled into the top corner of Benitez’s goal, who could only watch it go in.
The rest of the first half was balanced between Nice, looking to equalize and notably hitting the post through Claude-Maurice, and the Czechs, who were content to defend well.
In the second half, Nice continued to pose a threat to Slavia’s goal and eventually broke through the Czech defense. Youcef Atal, well-launched down the right side, managed to get ahead of Slavia’s goalkeeper and shot against the left post. Amine Gouiri followed up well and, from close range, pushed the ball into the back of the net.
However, Nice’s hopes were quickly dashed, exactly two minutes after their equalizer. From a corner from left to right, Peter Olayinka got ahead of Bambu and Benitez to head the ball into the Argentine goalkeeper’s net.
From that moment on, Nice lost all hope of qualifying and collapsed mentally. They conceded a third goal from Abdallah Sima, and Boudaoui, who had come on, was sent off for dissent after a dangerous foul.
An evening to forget for OGC Nice, who are almost eliminated from this Europa League. A miracle will be needed to qualify from this group.
