Frédéric Antonetti had to make this journey with a reshuffled team, a trip that rightly inspired many fears. It was finally the Nice team, through their Brazilian Ederson, who highlighted themselves first with two successive one-on-ones between the young South American and Cassard. However, the Strasbourg goalie defended his goals dearly, blocking with his foot first, then with both fists on a powerful shot heading for his top corner. The electrified Nice team continued to press, and they managed to produce four goal attempts after the first quarter of an hour.
The first jeers were heard at La Meinau, and the fans were stunned to see their team outplayed by a Nice team that controlled the game with Laslandes and Bamogo dizzying the Alsatian defense. Despite more dangerous actions by Nice and futile attempts to penetrate by Johansen and Cohade, both teams returned to the locker room with the score nil-nil, and as far as cautions were concerned, it was even too, with a yellow card each for young Bellaid and Laslandes. Nice dominated but had not managed to beat the excellent and experienced Cassard, who saved his team on numerous occasions. His counterpart Lloris had a fairly calm first half despite two perfectly managed interventions by the Nice guardian angel.
The second half kicked off at a frenetic pace with a second yellow card for the Alsatians, and this time it was Alvaro Santos who received the warning. Shortly thereafter, Antonetti replaced the injured Yahia with Barul. The game was lively, and the breakthrough finally came in the 51st minute through Ederson who, well-served by Laslandes, struck Cassard from 20 meters with a beautiful curled shot that, slightly deflected, fooled the last Strasbourg defender and was a nice birthday present for his 22nd birthday. A goal that rewarded the excellent work carried out by their director since the start of the game. Nice logically led and the stadium roared a little more against a Strasbourg team incapable of raising their game level.
Jean-Marc Furlan, the Alsatian coach, then decided to inject new blood with Renteria and Gameiro by doubling his attack at the front. Now with only fifteen minutes left to play, it was hard to imagine Strasbourg coming back into the game without the help of fate, given the poor level of play. OGC Nice firmly held the match and their exploit despite efforts from Dos Santos and Rentéria who, at best, would always find Hugo Lloris in their path. A few more minutes to play, Cohade gave his place to Szelesi for Strasbourg, while at Nice, Traore replaced Bamogo for the last moments of the match. In the 93rd minute, referee Mr. Chapron blew his whistle for the last time to end the tenth unbeaten match for the eagles, propelling them to fifth place in the standings tied in points with the fourth-place Valenciennes (32 pts).
OGC Nice thus succeeded in taking Alsace on Saturday night, and now they just need to do the same with Lorraine next Sunday at the Stade du Ray, with the runner-up Nancy who went and snatched a draw at Caen (0-0).
A Nice-Nancy to flirt with Europe, doesn’t that remind you of something?
