The Aiglons went through a tough evening but managed to salvage a point thanks to a champion’s character. However, they have many regrets…
Around Allianz Riviera, Barcelona’s “remontada” against PSG in the Champions League is still on everyone’s mind: “Did you see Neymar’s free kick? Magnificent!” or “Three goals in five minutes, they collapsed” were heard on the forecourt of the stadium.
However, Ligue 1 resumes tonight and Gym welcomes Caen, their sole conqueror of the first half (a 1-0 defeat on November 6). Placed in their usual 4-3-3 formation (with only Marcel replacing Belhanda, who is suspended), the Aiglons start the match as they know how, with a bang. Souquet (8th minute) and Balotelli (15th minute) are the first to shoot on goal. Caen stays resilient while Nice implements their game, without being threatening.
Defensive Nightmare
And the Niçois are going to regret it. Half an hour into the game, a nice Caen movement is concluded by Ivan Santini, who jumps higher than Dante and surprises Cardinale (0-1, 35th minute). Gym is stunned but recovers thanks to Eysseric, yet his shot narrowly misses (41st minute).
As in the first match, Caen “parked the bus” in front of the goal and the Normans played on the counterattack. The Aiglons, too rarely dangerous, would pay as soon as the second half began. Surprised by a long ball to Karamoh, Dante is too short and Cardinale completely misses his distant outing. The ball bounces in the area, but Dante misses, allowing Karamoh to score the second goal (0-2, 50th minute).
The evening turns into a nightmare when Wylan Cyprien, jostled in the air by Rodelin (we’ll talk about the refereeing later), falls awkwardly and twists his knee. The image is frightening, with fears of ligament rupture or even a tibia fracture. The Niçois midfielder, the man in form at the moment, is evacuated on a stretcher and replaced by Mickaël Le Bihan, the hero from Allianz Riviera two weeks ago.
And Suddenly, the “Remontada”
A few minutes later, it is Tassos Donis who comes on to replace a rather present Balotelli at the front of the attack. It is indeed the Italian international who will awaken the Allianz Riviera stands.
On a cross from Dalbert, Dante, at the far post, takes advantage of a poor outing from Vercoutre to pass the ball to Balotelli, who scores into the empty goal (1-2, 71st minute). Gym regains hope and the atmosphere lifts. The stadium wakes up and pushes its Aiglons. Driven by a crazy atmosphere, the Niçois go on the offensive again.
After a forgotten penalty on Le Bihan then Eysseric, a new cross from Dalbert causes panic in the Caen defense. A gift for Tassos Donis, who at the penalty spot (so to speak) uses both posts to equalize. The red and black fans are euphoric. A quarter-hour of madness ensues.
But the turning point of the match comes in the 85th minute. After a shot over the bar by Le Bihan (84th minute), a corner from Seri is deflected by Da Silva’s hand. Everyone around the field (even Mèfi) sees the hand, everyone except… Mr. Letexier, the match referee. While the Niçois protest, the assistant referee calls the central referee. But Mr. Letexier refuses. A corner for Nice, and no penalty.
Gym is deprived of a penalty that could have given them three points. Whereas last week PSG had been awarded a generous penalty against Nancy (a 1-0 victory thanks to that penalty). It is said that these things balance out by the end of the season but it’s beginning to be too much. A refereeing error that would burden the end of the match, with a demoralized Gym trying to play against Normans specializing in anti-play and time-wasting. Gym staged their own version of a remontada.
The refereeing by Mr. Letexier is all the more troubling since in the first half, most Caen fouls were systematically whistled. Worse still, after the match, Jean-Pierre Rivère recounts having met Mr. François Letexier who admitted his error, saying he did not want to overturn his decision.
“I went to see the referee at the end of the match and told him: ‘Making a mistake is normal, it’s part of refereeing, but your linesman tells you there’s a penalty.’” He replies: “I’ve seen the footage again, and indeed, there was a penalty, I made a mistake.” It happens, but it’s unfortunate that a season can hinge on small errors like that, it can be detrimental. The statement from Nice’s president clearly shows the importance of the referee’s error. Unfortunately, Nice is not a club of the same caliber as Paris, Lyon, or Monaco.
If the Aiglons can blame the referee or Caen’s anti-play, they can also regret not having played for nearly an hour. An hour during which Gym completely lost their game. This morning, Gym is second in Ligue 1. There’s only hope left that Paris and Monaco will make further slip-ups to continue dreaming. Nine matches remain before the end of the season.
The Stat: 2
This is already the second time this season that Nice has come back from two goals down to save a draw. The last time was on February 12 with a draw at Rennes. Anastasios Donis had already scored during that match.
Lucien Favre’s Reaction
We’re happy to have drawn 2-2, even when we were down 2-0. Caen was well-organized. We almost made it 3-2 at the end. It will be tight until the end of the season, we know it. We have 63 points. Our top scorer has been absent for a few weeks. We take risks at 0-1, we concede the second goal on the counter. We fought to come back. We sometimes forget to defend 100%. We want to win too much and we forget to play and thus defend. Their first goal was too easy to score. Note that they already posed us difficulties in the first leg, they played their game well. Karamoh, Santini, Rodelin upfront, it’s not bad. But despite that, we continued to play. We believed in it.
Paul Baysse’s Reaction
Our reaction is the positive point. Once again, we have shown character. We demonstrated that we are capable, when we play our game, of putting all teams in difficulty. I am proud of our reaction. Unfortunately, it is a reaction. We must be more proactive than reactive. Chasing the score is hard, especially against a team that plays low and tight. The big positive is that we were close to 3-2. There was at least one penalty for us at the end of the match.
Dante’s Reaction
The first half wasn’t very good. We weren’t quite on our feet, we were slow in every area: runs, passes, and sequences. We weren’t right, that’s all, and we conceded two goals. The reaction was magnificent. In these cases, you focus on the positive. Had we led 2-0 before conceding the draw, it would have been negative. Here, I say again, it’s positive, even though we desperately wanted three points.
