This Thursday, OGC Nice will play on Fenerbahçe’s turf as part of the 2nd day of the Europa League. After their opening defeat against Roma last week, the Gym has no choice and must earn points. All the pre-match information of this clash can be discovered here.
930! That’s the number of days that separates OGC Nice from their last victory in the European Cup. An eternity! At that time, the Eagles triumphed over Sheriff Tiraspol in the Conference League, and qualified for the quarterfinals of the competition. Since then, the Gym has been accumulating troubles and underperformances on the European scene. The terrible series continued last week for the Niçois. Against an opponent stronger on paper, Franck Haise’s players faltered at the start of the second half. Despite a final burst of pride in the last quarter of an hour of the match, Terem Moffi’s teammates conceded a defeat (1-2) at the Allianz Riviera.
The scoreboard for OGC Nice remains stuck in this Europa League. There is already an urgency to earn points to not fall behind in this mini championship. For their first away game, the Gym heads to Turkey and Istanbul. In their history, Nice has already faced Fenerbahçe. The two clubs competed in the Champions Cup during the 1959-1960 season. At that time, the three matches favored the Turkish side (with only one Nice victory).
With or without Boudaoui, what about Dante?
Substituted in during Sunday’s match against Paris FC, Hicham Boudaoui had to give up his place a few minutes later. Affected on the muscular level, the Algerian could not finish the match on the field. His presence against Fenerbahçe this Thursday is highly compromised. The midfielder might be rested in view of the derby against AS Monaco this Sunday.
The question also arises for Dante. The management of the OGC Nice captain is done match by match, as he continues to struggle with his knee. After returning against Roma, the Brazilian did not appear on the match sheet this weekend in Ligue 1. The prospect of the derby could influence the presence of the defender for this long trip to Turkey.
On the opposing side, Fenerbahçe also missed their start in the Europa League. Last week, the Turks were defeated on Dinamo Zagreb’s pitch (3-1) and will also be looking for their first success in the competition. Marco Asensio’s teammates have had an eventful start to the season, marked by a change of coach. Exit José Mourinho, it’s now Domenico Tedesco – former Belgium national team coach among others – who is managing the Istanbul team.
Probable lineups:
Fenerbahçe: Ederson – Semedo, Skriniar (C), Oosterwolde, Brown – Asensio, Fred – Dorgeles, Szymanski, Aktürkoglu – El Nesyri
Nice: Diouf – Bombito, Bah, Mendy – Clauss, Vanhoutte, Sanson, Bard (C) – Cho, Moffi, Diop.
