After Lille’s beautiful victory, a team from the North will once again challenge the eaglets in their new nest at the Allianz Riviera. A match in a peculiar context of an inauguration and the numerous events that accompany it. A potential trap match, yet a victory would propel Claude Puel’s protégés into a winning spiral.
The 7th place team hosts the 18th, the 5-0 from last year at the Ray, and the current form make OGC Nice the favorite in this new Nice-Valenciennes match. This fixture has produced 8 victories for Nice, one draw, and only one victory for Valenciennes, dating back to the 1981-82 season. Suffice to say, all signs are positive, and that is perhaps why this is considered a quintessential trap match, with Valenciennes playing all out to avoid slipping further in the standings after two consecutive home losses to Marseille (0-1) and against Saint-Etienne (1-3) on the last match day.
On Nice’s side, confidence is the order of the day after getting over the Cypriot incident, and the last victory in Lille’s domain (0-2), on the last match day, has bolstered spirits during recent training sessions. Unfortunately, Claude Puel will have to deal with a well-occupied infirmary with the absences of Bruins, Eysseric, Traoré, Maupay, and Pentecôte. Nevertheless, an appealing starting eleven will tread the new stadium’s field for the first time in an official match. Only a victory would be splendid for Dario’s teammates, who must be dreaming of being the first striker to make the net quiver and make the stands of Ségurane, Garibaldi, Ray, and Populaire Sud vibrate in unison.
A grand spectacle is certainly expected before and after the game, but everyone mostly hopes that the one resulting from this match will be just as grand and, ultimately, favorable to its hosts, who could not offer a better gift for this “first.” First goal, first victory, first emotions, this will indeed be the time for firsts in the heart of the Var plain, which will transform, for one Sunday, into a football land!
