For their debut in the League Cup, the Gym was defeated on the pitch of Bordeaux (3-2) without ever really competing.
A week after his first start with the Gym in the Europa League, Walter Benitez guards the Nice goal at the Matmut Atlantique. As against PSG on Sunday, the Nice coach decided to line up three central defenders. Captain Dante is accompanied by Arnaud Souquet and Maxime Le Marchand, who returns to the national scene six days after playing the entire match against Krasnodar.
Also starting against the Russians, Patrick Burner and Olivier Boscagli occupy the right and left flanks of the red and black defense, respectively. The midfield trio consists of Mathieu Bodmer, Mika Seri, and Vincent Koziello. Finally, the keys to the attack are entrusted to the duo Mario Balotelli — Alassane Plea.
Less than 72 hours after their commendable draw at the Parc des Princes, the Eagles are back at it, at the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux, for their debut in the League Cup, as European clubs are exempt from the round of 32.
While the Red and Blacks entered the competition later than the others, they are also lagging in this match, facing sharp Bordeaux players who needed redemption after the rout against AS Monaco last Saturday (0-4).
Jocelyn Gourvennec’s men find the breakthrough on their first two chances, benefiting from the leniency and misalignments of an experimental Nice defense. A quarter of an hour into the game, captain Jaroslav Plasil perfectly positions himself between Dante and Le Marchand and, well served by Malcom, neatly places his shot past Benitez. Souquet comes back to tackle on the line, but aided by his assistant referee, Mr. Letexier validates the goal.
A bit more than five minutes later, Jérémy Ménez goes on a solo run on the left. His shot is deflected by Benitez… into the feet of Laborde who has followed up and doubles the score.
The Gym responds, luckily, to revive the game. Balotelli is stopped once by Prior (26th minute). Fifteen minutes later, the Italian forward, with his back to the goal, serves Plea in the box. The Eagles’ top scorer slaloms between three Bordeaux defenders and cleverly deceives Prior with a smart little ball (42nd minute). The game is back on.
Upon returning from the locker room, Nice tries to take control of the ball but is punished on the counter, with a goal similar to the second one: Jérémy Ménez with the shot, Benitez with the save, and once again Gaëtan Laborde, isolated in the box, lurks and restores a two-goal lead for his team.
Maximum efficiency for the Girondins, who nonetheless are never truly comfortable in this match. Balotelli with a header (blocked), Le Marchand also with a header (over) keep the pressure on Prior’s goal. Struggling to find solutions in open play, it is finally on a penalty that the Gym comes back, after Donis (who replaced Plea) is brought down in the box by Lewczuk. Super Mario takes the Bordeaux goalkeeper the wrong way with about ten minutes to go (83rd minute). Enough to make the local team tremble, who barely escape when Balotelli, shifted to the right of the box, cleverly lays it back for Donis, who sees his shot cleared off the line by Pallois who came to support his goalkeeper.
This golden opportunity to equalize will be the last for the Gym, forced to exit the League Cup prematurely. Now on to the championship, with Dijon coming to the Allianz Riviera on Sunday (3 p.m.), before returning to Bordeaux for a rematch next Wednesday.
The reaction of Lucien Favre:
“We didn’t defend well. It’s not our defenders specifically, it was the whole team that didn’t perform well. We weren’t compact enough, not good enough at ball recovery either. They could break through too easily. We played well in the last 25 minutes. Before that, we struggled to defend collectively. Defensive work is a whole, and we had too much space between our lines. We need to work on that, it’s the basics of football.”
The reaction of Vincent Koziello:
“We were disorganized, and didn’t manage to set our game up. We lacked offensive weight. Mario (Balotelli) and Alassane (Plea) were too isolated in my opinion. It’s frustrating because even playing a very average game, we had the chance to equalize at the end. We leave this cup with regrets because we didn’t develop our game. You always learn from this type of match. Against Dijon (match this Sunday at 3 p.m.) we will need to have a real reaction. The club has made the necessary efforts, and I hope there will be a crowd to support us.”
