The Aiglons had a rough evening in Lille. Trailing from the start, they also lost Atal to injury and Lees-Melou was very harshly sent off. A night to forget.
Like in Monaco, the Gym started the match in a 3-5-2 formation, with the duo Saint-Maximin – Ganago upfront.
But by the seventh minute, the Nice defense broke down. On a counter led by Ikoné, the attacker’s cross was deflected by Sarr, but Leão followed up and scored from close range (1-0, 7th minute).
Patrick Vieira quickly adjusted his formation, switching to 4-3-3 by the 18th minute, moving Youcef Atal to the right wing. But by half an hour into the game, the Algerian, suffering from a pain behind his thigh during a sprint, had to give way to Myziane. A big blow for the Gym.
Soon after, the fierce Lille attack punished the Aiglons on a counter. Pépé bypassed Dante and scored with the inside of his foot (2-0, 37th minute). Not everything was lost at half-time, but the match was shaping up to be very difficult.
Nice seemed to be doing better in the second half, especially creating a good chance with an acrobatic shot from Ganago (74th minute). But soon after, a Lille counter led by Pépé ended with a shot from Bamba that left Benitez no chance (3-0, 75th minute).
The evening turned into a nightmare when Lees-Melou, who had come on for Cyprien, was completely unjustly sent off by the referee (89th minute). An unintentional foul on Araujo, a look at the VAR… And the red card was given. Incomprehensible.
In injury time, Nice conceded a fourth goal 100% from “former Aiglons”: Jérémy Pied crossed from the right for Loïc Rémy, left unmarked by Dante and Malang Sarr, who calmly headed it in (4-0, 90+4th minute).
For his first match as the Gym president, Gauthier Ganaye had certainly hoped for better. Tonight’s defeat should give him an idea of the work that lies ahead.
On the pitch, the Gym will return to the Allianz Riviera next Sunday at 9 p.m., hosting Lyon, who were defeated by the Aiglons in the first leg (0-1, August 31). A victory that had kick-started the Gym’s season. Let’s hope the return match will allow them to restart it.
PATRICK VIEIRA’S REACTION
“From start to finish, we completely fell short. We faced a much stronger team, we didn’t have what it took to make them doubt. We were punished by a team far superior to us. Collectively, we weren’t good and tactically we made big mistakes that let them counter, and we paid dearly. We lacked aggressiveness, were too much onlookers, and it cost us a lot. They had way too much speed, too many individual qualities, we let them counter too often. We have done very good things in recent months, but tonight we faced a team stronger than us. I’m not going to throw out what we have done well these last few weeks. (On Lees-Melou’s exclusion) This red card is incomprehensible, sincerely.”
DANTE’S REACTION
“We started the match poorly by giving too much space. The coach had warned us… There is much to correct and we will discuss it among ourselves. It’s a setback but we have to hold our heads high. There are still a lot of matches ahead of us. We saw that Lille was superior tonight, we have to accept it and work hard to come back.”
GAUTHIER GANAYE’S REACTION
“I don’t think there’s a worse start. We got a slap tonight. We could have played a second match, and we wouldn’t have been more threatening. We already knew the squad had weaknesses, it confirms what we thought. We will get to work for next summer and finish the season like this. We have to support the coach. I don’t think we can say we’re paying for a bad transfer window, no player was up to par tonight.”
