The Formula One in red and black, running at full speed and completing laps of the L1 circuit with excellent performances, faced a stop last Sunday against Marseille. The Nice squad will try to restart at the Félix Bollaert Stadium in Lens, provided they can engage the gear and not stall. This task will not be easy.
The duo Jean-Pierre Papin and Daniel Leclerq have revived the Red and Gold colors. They have won four out of their last five matches, scoring fourteen goals. Included in their list of conquests are Nancy in the League Cup, Lyon, and Caen, teams at the top of the L1 standings. Toifilou Maoulida, Nadir Belhadj, and Loïc Rémy have joined the Artois club during the winter transfer window. Daniel Leclerq, the druid, who led RC Lens to the French championship title in 1998, supports Jean-Pierre Papin in his coaching duties. The fans are relieved. The Red and Gold have corrected their course and climbed out of the relegation zone. They are thirteenth with 30 points (7 units behind Nice) with a game in hand. The goal is simple: to win against the Eaglets to continue their ascent and have the chance to move into the upper half of the table. Aruna Dindane, the Ivorian striker, is back from the African Cup of Nations just like Bakary Koné and Joseph Désiré Job from OGC Nice.
In the first leg, Nice won 1-0 with a goal from Baky Koné. Aruna Dindane had hit the post with a penalty in the 80th minute against Hugo Lloris.
Frédéric Antonetti will be without Lilian Laslandes and Vincent Hognon. The OGC Nice coach stated on the official site his intention to win: “There are three points at stake! It seems obvious, but we’ll try to take them even though Lens will disagree. Every match that comes our way allows us to progress and collect points.”
