Nice was defeated this Thursday against a weakened Slavia Prague (3-2), notably due to several costly defensive errors.
At kickoff, the injury to Dante allows young Austrian Daniliuc to celebrate his first start. Thus, Nice’s central defense is very young and highly inexperienced with Bambu, Daniliuc, and Pelmard. On the left side, we find the tireless Kamara, and Lotomba will take the right flank. In the midfield, Schneiderlin and Lees-Melou are retained. Finally, in attack, Gouiri and Rony Lopes will support Kasper Dolberg.
At the start of the match, both teams go toe-to-toe, and the attackers from both sides create good opportunities.
A quarter of an hour into the game, it is the home team that finally opens the scoring due to a misunderstanding between Daniliuc and Pelmard. Kuchta takes advantage of this miscommunication and beats Benitez with a perfect side-foot shot.
But Nice responds quickly with Amine Gouiri. The young talent combines well with Rony Lopes and lobs the Czech goalkeeper. He is already scoring his third goal in the competition.
Having gotten back into the match, Nice will crack once again. As a draw seemed likely at half-time, on a left-to-right corner, Sima gets on the ball’s trajectory and leaves Benitez standing (43rd minute).
The second half is clearly to the advantage of the Czechs, and the Aiglons drop in intensity, which is not the case for Slavia who takes advantage of this drop in performance to widen the gap with Kuchta, who scores a brace (71st minute).
The late entry of Ndoye saves Nice’s pride. One-on-one with his opponent, the Swiss prospect breaks through and outmaneuvers him in the box. Without support from his teammates, the Gym’s forward attempts a powerful shot at the near post. The goalkeeper gets a touch on the ball, but it still ends up in the back of the net. It’s a goal that will count for the return match at the Allianz Riviera in two weeks.
At the end of the first phase, the Gym finds itself 3rd in the standings with three points.
