Sofiane Diop, Aaron Ramsey, Nicolas Pépé and Ross Barkley are all absent from OGC Nice’s Europa Conference League tie against Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday.
Diop was injured early on in Les Aiglons’ 1-1 draw against AJ Auxerre and will therefore miss the first leg of the Europa Conference League tie in Moldova. He joins Ramsey on the sidelines, who suffered a minor injury in Nice’s 3-0 victory over local rivals AS Monaco and is yet to reach sufficient fitness to make his return.
Pépé, on loan from Arsenal, continues to struggle with a knee issue, and the club is yet to reveal when the former Lille OSC winger will make his return. Barkley was a surprise absence from Nice’s Europa Conference League squad and is therefore ineligible to play in the match against Sheriff.
80 Nice fans have defied advice from the French government and from the club itself to make the trip to the politically-unstable country of Moldova for the tie. Les Aiglons are the last-standing French team in European football this season following Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Nice likely XI v Sheriff Tiraspol
Kasper Schmeichel – Ayoub Amraoui, Dante, Jean-Clair Todibo, Jordan Lotomba – Khéphren Thuram, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Hicham Boudaoui – Badredine Bouanani, Terem Moffi, Gaëtan Laborde.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
