Ligue 1, Round 15, 10/12/23
OGC Nice regained their second place in Ligue 1 thanks to a hard-fought victory over Stade de Reims (2-1) at the Allianz Riviera.
There was no promise of goals for this encounter. Nice have the best defence in Europe’s top five leagues, and despite conceding last weekend against FC Nantes, they hadn’t conceded at home since 20th August. Five of the last six matches between these two sides also finished 0-0 and defences were on top in the first 45 minutes, although Les Aiglons did succeed in fashioning the better chances.
Gaëtan Laborde was uncharacteristically wasteful in particular and should have done better when put through on goal after some good work from Melvin Bard. However, the striker made the wrong decision in choosing to try and find a teammate rather than shoot and the chance was squandered with his pass dribbling harmlessly comfortably wide.
The Frenchman was then just inches away from a Terem Moffi pass across goal. Any kind of contact and it would have likely gone in. However, Reims, who struggled to break Nice’s press, did fashion a chance of their own from a well-worked free-kick, however, Yunis Abdelhamid couldn’t make good contact with Teddy Teuma’s set piece.
Nice came out with more intent in the second half and moved the ball quicker to force openings. However, the opener came from a simple and optimistic long ball from Marcin Bulka, which was headed down by Abdelhamid straight into the path of Laborde, who controlled, made his way to the edge of the box and powered the ball of the underside of the bar.
However, the result was never secured. Junya Ito thundered a shot off the bar as Reims ramped up the pressure and pressed higher and more intensely. The breakthrough came through Abdelhamid, who atoned for his earlier error by making a lung-busting run to get on the end of Ito’s cross and power his header past Bulka.
There would be one final twist. Jérémie Boga, who had looked bright but lacked end product, worked some space on the edge of the box thanks to some nice footwork, before directing a tame effort towards Yehvann Diouf’s goal. The Frenchman made a mess of the simple effort, letting it dribble right through him and into the back of the net.
Tempers flared towards the end as Reims looked for an equaliser, but Nice held on and return to winning ways. Francesco Farioli’s side are now just four points behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain and return to second place, having been displaced by local rivals AS Monaco the night before.
Nice player ratings
Marcin Bulka – 5
Melvin Bard – 5
Dante – 6
Jean-Clair Todibo – 6
Jordan Lotomba – 5
Pablo Rosario – 6
Youssouf Ndayishimiye – 5
Morgan Sanson – 7
The most composed and classy player on the pitch. Showed exemplary positioning and always followed his man out of possession and his press resistance was an important asset against a Reims side that pressed doggedly throughout. Despite a numerical disadvantage in the midfield in certain periods, Nice nonetheless won the battle in this area, and it was thanks to Sanson.
Jérémie Boga – 6
Terem Moffi – 3
Looked for large periods disinterested. The Nigerian has looked promising out wide in recent matches, but he was eased out of this game. His final ball was very much lacking and his lack of efficiency in possession made progression down the right difficult throughout.
Gaëtan Laborde – 6
Laborde got the goal and was workmanlike throughout both in and out of possession. To dropped deep to construct numerical advantages and pressed well, but lacked the finishing touch in the first half. He should have been more selfish when put through on goal, but instead, he chose a pass that was never there. However, he did well to read the play and intercept Abdelhamid’s knock-down and is finish is more characteristic of what we usually see from Laborde.
Reims player ratings
Yehvann Diouf – 3
Joseph Okumu – 4
Yunis Abdelhamid – 6
It was a match of highs and lows for the captain, whose error created the first goal. He then made up for it with a powered header after a lung-busting run from deep, however, it was ultimately in vain.
Emanuel Agbadou – 5
Thibault De Smet – 5
Azor Matusiwa – 5
Thomas Foket – 5
Amir Richardson – 6
Teddy Teuma – 6
He had a difficult task against a combative midfield. With Rosario, Ndayishimiye, Todibo and Dante, all pushing into the areas occupied by Teuma, he was at a physical advantage, but still managed to find spaces and be effective.
Junya Ito – 5
Mohamed Daramy – 4
A difficult afternoon for Daramy, who struggled to have an influence on proceedings. He squandered his only chance with a poor touch after having done well to work his way into a golden position after a run from his own half.
