OGC Nice won at the end of a match that promised to be tricky (0-1) and took advantage of Monaco’s misstep on Friday to get closer in the standings. The Aiglons can thank Wylan Cyprien, once again the scorer.
To try to rediscover victory away from home after five unsuccessful trips, Lucien Favre maintained the 4-3-3 formation from recent weeks with two notable changes: the injured Plea was replaced by Balotelli, and Mounir Obbadi was celebrating his first start.
As they knew how to do during their most prosperous period of the season, the Gym managed to knock out their opponent in the early moments of the game. On their first foray into the area, the Aiglons opened the scoring through Wylan Cyprien with a low shot, following a good ball recovery by Souquet (15th minute). Already the 7th goal of the season for the Guadeloupean.
Bottom of the table before the match, Lorient did not give up despite this setback. Despite good control in midfield, the Bretons were rarely dangerous during the initial phase. In fact, it was Belhanda who was most threatening with a cross-shot parried by Lecomte.
Upon returning from the locker room, Lorient increased their dominance, and the Gym was forced to defend deeper. Fortunately, the Aiglons could once again rely on a decisive Yoan Cardinale, who stopped a point-blank header from Bellugou before Tourรฉ followed up in an offside position (55th minute).
Deprived of the ball for one of the few times this season (45% possession), the Gym had not lost their technical quality to play cleanly out. In a quick move, Eysseric forced a save from Lecomte (65th minute). Already struggling offensively, the Nice team had to fight with ten men after Mario Balotelli’s dismissal by Tony Chapron in general bewilderment (69th minute).
There were still over twenty minutes to play. Twenty minutes of suffering, but above all, of solidarity. To contain the home side’s attacks, Lucien Favre brought in Le Marchand and Donis to reorganize the team into a 5-3-1 formation. Lorient went all out, but Cardinale, despite being injured in the right leg, was heroic on his line. His teammates formed a compact block that forced FCL to resort to long balls. As Paul Baysse highlighted after the match, this victory “brings a lot of positives in terms of the team’s solidarity.” With Monaco’s draw at Bastia and awaiting PSG’s match (against Toulouse), the Gym had the day’s best performance in the upper part of the table.
The stat: 45
This is the average percentage of possession for the Gym throughout the match, one of the lowest this season for the Nice team. Lorient indeed posed problems for the Aiglons.
Lucien Favre’s reaction
“It’s good to take. We still remember it was tough against Lorient (2-1, in the first leg), we could have lost at home as well, and then winning away, it feels good. And then, it’s well-deserved because, at eleven against ten, we had to hold on. We dug deep into our energies to hang on, and it was very, very hard. We chose to defend, against a very good team offensively. It’s one of the best teams in Ligue 1, offensively. (…) I had some words with Lionel Letizi, but it was just a staff matter, like many others.”
