Quickly falling behind on the scoreboard, the Aiglons responded in the best possible way by scoring five goals, including a stunning four-goal performance from Alassane Pléa!
Now focused on a single goal for the last three months of the season, the Aiglons had the chance with this trip to Brittany to get within one point of the coveted 5th place following last night’s results. Lucien Favre made two changes to the team that beat Lille eight days ago. Plea took the lead in attack in the absence of Mario Balotelli, allowing Ihsan Sacko to celebrate his second start on the wing. In defense, Maxime Le Marchand, injured in mid-January during the derby at Monaco, was back on the left flank.
The Niçois’ start was sluggish, to say the least. Overwhelmed by the speed and impact of the athletic Guingamp attackers, the Azurean defense was caught off guard several times. Marlon fouled Thuram in the box and conceded an avoidable penalty, yet another against the Gym this season. Despite Benitez’s good dive, Clément Grenier opened the scoring (8th). This difficult start could have been catastrophic had Mr. Jochem decided to penalize Le Marchand for a contentious challenge on Coco (10th). Fortunately, that was not the case, and after this tough first quarter-hour, the Aiglons could spread their wings. Saint-Maximin and Sacko on the flanks stretched a rearranged Guingamp defense due to Sorbon’s absence. It was on a counter-attack, following a good recovery by Seri, that the Gym moved forward. With two touches, the Ivorian passed to Sacko in the center, who perfectly set up Plea behind the Breton axis. The Nice number 14 withstood the defenders’ return and skillfully placed a left-footed shot past Johnsson for the equalizer (1-1, 24th).
This equalizer changed the pace of the match with a Nice team becoming more enterprising and confident in their ability to hurt their opponent. Although Benitez had to work hard, saving in two attempts against Briand and then Thuram (35th), the Gym had the clearest chances with Saint-Maximin shooting just wide from a tight angle (40th) and especially Plea, who delivered a superb lobbed header following a brilliant chip from Seri. Johnsson, completely beaten, was relieved to see the ball bounce back into his arms after hitting the post (43rd).
If the Gym had not managed to take the lead before halftime, they did so immediately after the break, through Alassane Plea, with a magnificent chest control that unsettled Martins Pereira and Kerbrat. The Nice striker finished cleanly with the inside of his foot to give his team the lead (48th). Torn between trying to equalize and fearing the Nice offensive darts, En Avant seemed disorganized, and Plea, once again, took advantage of a good through ball from Lees-Melou to seal a hat-trick and above all, give his team a two-goal lead (58th).
The advantage the Aiglons held wasn’t managed in the best manner at first, allowing plenty of opportunities for the hosts to come back. Benitez intervened in turn against Bénézet (65th) and then Blas (68th) before seeing a close-range header from Thuram just miss (77th). The Argentine goalkeeper, however, had to concede a goal on a direct free kick from Grenier deflected into his own net by Marlon (84th). There were about ten minutes left, which seemed like they could be tense, but the Gym spared the fans some nervousness by immediately restoring their two-goal lead through substitute Bassem Srarfi, who was at the back post to meet Lees-Melou’s delivery after a solo run from the midfield line that went through the entire Guingamp defense (86th).
Alassane Plea finally wrapped up the recital with a four-goal show during stoppage time, with another low shot (90+2). A significant victory for the Gym, who put themselves back in the race for Europe, a week before an immense challenge against PSG at the Allianz Riviera.
THE STAT: 2007
Impressive in the victory at Roudourou this Sunday (2-5), Alassane Plea is the first French player to score a four-goal haul in Ligue 1 since Steve Savidan (with Valenciennes at Nantes on February 10, 2007).
The Nice striker, who had already hit a hat-trick last season at Metz (2-4 win), had never scored four times in the same match before. Only the Brazilian Neymar (Paris SG) has achieved a similar feat in the league this season, during the win against Dijon (8-0).
Finally, 2 of the last 5 players to have scored at least 4 goals in a Ligue 1 match are Nice players. Each time on Guingamp’s pitch (Carlos Eduardo, 5 goals on October 26, 2014, and Alassane Plea, 4 goals this Sunday).
LUCIEN FAVRE’S REACTION
It’s a big victory on the scoreboard, but it came at the end. It was tough at times. We struggled physically at the start of the match; we couldn’t keep up with the pace they set. They were winning a lot of second balls; they were very good at receiving and redirecting. They had a lot of possession because of that, and we struggled to resist. They kept sending balls to Thuram, and we had to pull the block back because it was physically challenging. We conceded a penalty, which was our fault; there was absolutely no need to make a foul there, it is not acceptable to give them a penalty like that after a few minutes. Then we scored a counter-attacking goal, which changed the dynamics. The 2-1 goal came at a good time, and the match turned from there. But at 3-1, we dropped too much. For ten minutes we were completely dominated; we didn’t press high when needed, we didn’t mark them well, and we left them too many crossing opportunities. Thankfully, we scored just after they reduced the score to spare us a difficult end. This is an area where we have considerable work (he emphasizes the term), I’ve been saying this for a while, but it seems like not many want to hear it. But it’s progressing gen-tly as the Swiss say (smile).
ALASSANE PLEA’S REACTION
This is my first four-goal haul: I had already achieved a double and a hat-trick, but I had never scored 4 goals in a single match before; it’s exceptional, and I hope to continue like this; it’s gratifying. It’s an incredible day, a beautiful birthday gift (he celebrated his 25th the day before, editor’s note). The whole team put me in a good position. We’ve gone through tough phases and lost many easy points, but we’re still here and securing a second consecutive win. It’s going to be tight; there are 9 games left. We’re a small group of contenders, but there’s room to chase Europe.
