No fourth French Cup for OGC Nice. Beaten by RC Lens (3-1), the Nice players put up a good fight against Lens players who proved to be more clinical.
Nice and Lens players had a French Cup final tonight. Two teams with completely opposite seasons. On one side, OGC Nice, 16th in the league, preparing to play the playoffs for their survival in Ligue 1. On the other, RC Lens, 2nd behind PSG this season, has had a flawless 2025-2026 campaign. On paper, the match looked complicated for the Eagles, who had to face nearly 50,000 Lens supporters who made the trip to the Stade de France. The Gym could still count on a little over 15,000 loyal fans to support them.
Although one could fear the fielding of a B team, Claude Puel made no major changes compared to usual. Only the starting of Maxime Dupé replacing Yehvann Diouf in goal, and young Djibril Coulibaly at the expense of Morgan Sanson, surprised observers. On the other side, it was standard lineup for Pierre Sage’s men, with the presence of Florian Thauvin, Allan Saint-Maximin and captain Adrien Thomasson, who was playing his last match with the northern team.
From the start of the match, both teams showed fine attacking intentions. The Eagles managed to keep the ball despite pressure from the northern players which intensified as the minutes passed. The first chance was indeed from Lens when former Gym player Allan Saint-Maximin recovered a ball at the edge of the penalty area. The red and gold attacker unleashed a fine shot that narrowly missed the crossbar of Maxime Dupé. Nothing to worry the Nice side, who reacted immediately just before the quarter-hour mark with a long throw-in taken by Elye Wahi. Very active in the forward area, the striker was close to opening the scoring himself.
The match accelerated after another dangerous action on the counter-attack by Allan Saint-Maximin, who had gotten past the entire Nice defense. Fortunately, his stray shot was intercepted by the Gym’s backline.
In response, the Maralpin players created another chance through Sofiane Diop, who forced Robin Risser to stretch to clear the ball for a corner. On the resulting set piece, Dante managed to direct his header on target without fooling the Lens goalkeeper’s vigilance.
In this match that was opening up as the minutes went by, it was Florian Thauvin who beat the defense on a clearance from his goalkeeper, who had just been crucial. Fed by Matthieu Udol on the left side, the World Cup winner took advantage of a moment of hesitation in the Nice defense to beat Maxime Dupé with a decisive cross shot at ground level just before the half-hour: 1-0.
A goal that failed to wake up the Eagles, who were too uncreative offensively. Playing alone up front, Elye Wahi was well-marked by young Ismaelo Ganiou. Worse, as we were heading calmly towards halftime, Odsonne Edouard managed to get the better of Kojo Oppong at a corner. His angry header, slightly deflected by the head of the Red and Black defender, ended up in the goal of Maxime Dupé, who could do nothing once again.
OGC Nice reacts through its surprise guest
The last Nice chance came in this first period. Elye Wahi, still active, was fouled just in front of RC Lens’s penalty area. On the free kick, Sofiane Diop forced Robin Risser to make another great save. A classy action from the 21-year-old goalkeeper, selected for the French national team to participate in the World Cup this summer. However, on the corner that followed, he had to give way to young Djibril Coulibaly, the surprise starter tonight. At halftime, Lens, who were generally dominating proceedings, led only 2-1.
Enough to revive the suspense for the 45 minutes to come.
Right after the restart, OGC Nice exerted enormous pressure on the Lens goal. Still as penetrating, Elye Wahi was close to equalizing powerfully, but Robin Risser remained vigilant. More tense, Lens weathered the storm before attacking again in a Stade de France completely won over by the Reds and Golds cause. Northern waves followed one after another, but it was OGC Nice who created the best chance through Antoine Mendy’s header, which hit the crossbar. The Nice players, reinvigorated, threw all their strength into the battle to try to equalize.
Tension was rising. The substitutions made by both coaches slowed down the rhythm of the match. Nice struggled to create danger in the opposition’s half. Everything seemed possible until the 77th minute and a ball sent long towards Abdallah Sima. He got the better of Antoine Mendy and Maxime Dupé with a delicate touch to send the ball into the back of the net for the third time in the match.
Claude Puel had no choice left and brought in all his attacking weapons to try to turn things around. Kévin Carlos was close to reducing the deficit eight minutes from the end, but the posts of Robin Risser were obstacles once again…
The last thrill came from the stands when the Stade de France interpreted the Marseillaise in tribute to the victims of the Promenade des Anglais attack.
Lens wins the first French Cup in their history (3-1) against a Gym side who must quickly get back in the saddle to avoid relegation to Ligue 2. First leg this Tuesday, May 26 at Geoffroy-Guichard at 20:45.
NicePremium is a free, independent local news outlet.
Help us keep going by supporting our work from €5 per month.
