OGC Nice was away at FC Lorient’s ground for their French Cup quarter-final. Superior throughout the match, the Eagles gave themselves a scare until the very end.
OGC Nice had narrowly qualified against Montpellier in the previous round (3-2) and arrived at Le Moustoir hoping to bounce back after a series of four matches without victory in the league (two draws, two defeats). Lorient, for their part, having eliminated Paris FC in the last sixteen (2-0), were aiming for their first French Cup semi-final since the 2015-2016 season, when the Merlus lost 0-1 to PSG.
For this match, Claude Puel had decided to play his team in a 5-3-2 formation with Antoine Mendy alongside Kojo Peprah Oppong and Dante. Malvin Bard was making his return on the left side. In midfield, Morgan Sanson and Charles Vanhoutte were paired together, with Tanguy Ndombele supporting the young duo of Kail Boudache – Zoumana Diallo.
As expected, the start of the match was tense. The game was tight, with Lorient holding the ball and trying to surprise Nice’s defence, while Nice defended and tried to be dangerous on set pieces. Morgan Sanson had earned a free kick on the right side, allowing Jonathan Clauss to cross towards the Lorient box, but Bamo Meïté cleared the danger with his head.
The game showed some technical sloppiness, preventing both teams from truly opening up the match. It was also very physical, with numerous fouls not called by the referee early on. It was only on the tenth foul that Pablo Pagis received a yellow card in the 42nd minute, ultimately turned into red after VAR intervention.
At half-time, neither team had found the breakthrough, but this expulsion suggested a more lively second half.
OGC Nice failed to make the difference with the extra man
After the restart, Claude Puel made a substitution bringing on Mohamed-Ali Cho in place of Zoumana Diallo. Nice logically took control of the game. Nevertheless, successive stoppages for injuries did nothing to improve the tempo of the start of this second half.
While the Eagles created most of the clear chances, Lorient occasionally showed danger on the counter-attack without troubling Yehvann Diouf.
In the last twenty minutes, the match became tense as neither team managed to make the difference. The first real chance fell to the home side: on a precise cross from Jonathan Clauss, Morgan Sanson didn’t attack the ball enough to find the back of the net.
Lorient didn’t give up and tried to counter, but Bamba Dieng made too many mistakes.
Despite the energy deployed from the bench by the Azuréens coach, nothing worked. OGC Nice pushed in the final minutes but had to resign themselves to a penalty shootout, just like against Montpellier in the previous round.
In this duel between the two Senegalese goalkeepers Bingourou Kamara and Yehvann Diouf, it was the Nice goalkeeper who made the difference, despite a fine save from the Lorient keeper. While the misses of Gabin Bernardeau and Tom Louchet could have been fatal to the Eagles, the last two Lorient takers cracked under pressure. After all the drama, it was OGC Nice who qualified (0-0 / 5-6 AET).
An almost miraculous result that does the Red and Black well. In the semi-final, OGC Nice will face Racing Club Strasbourg or the winner of Lyon – Lens tomorrow.
Before that, they will need to get back on track in the league with the reception of Rennes this Sunday at 17:15.
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