Ligue 1, Round 17, 20/12/23
A brace from the substitute Terem Moffi settled a tight contest between OGC Nice and RC Lens in the final match of the year before the Ligue departs for its winter break.
The game was delayed as smoke billowed out of the Tribune Sud; a wave of fireworks lit up by the Ultras filled the half-empty Allianz Riviera with noise and sound. The explosions died down but the fog of war remained, as the players were left to emulate the pyrotechnic display on the field.
Each side had their chance to control possession but dominance did not translate easily to threat, as both teams roamed forward but struggled to create many clear-cut opportunities to test either keeper.
The best opportunity came late in the half as Facundo Medina, tasked tonight in the centre of the Lens’ back three, for the first time looked ill-composed at the heart of the defence. A series of poor decisions almost allowed for Hicham Boudaoui and Evann Guessand to gain possession in the penalty box, but his recovery and their miscoordination did enough to prevent threat from becoming opportunity.
The second half brought far more excitement to the match as the game opened up into a more end-to-end affair, as the attacking talent of both sides began to show their qualities.
Boudaoui began to grow in influence for Nice as gaps opened up in the final third for the player to express his ability to control the ball in tight spaces, and his combinations with Jérémie Boga’s darting movements on the wing looked to continuously terrorise the left flank.
Still, Lens came the closest to opening the scoring when David da Costa’s freekick bounced off the post and onto the goalkeeper Marcin Bułka. The ball bounced fortunately for the keeper to save him from what would have been an unlucky own goal.
Despite the game delivering more high-quality chances, it took until the final ten minutes for Nice to open the scoring. Salis Abdul Samed, who had been until this point flawless in his role protecting the Lens backline, conceded a clumsy penalty as he brought down Guessand.
Moffi who had only been on the pitch for a few minutes stepped up to take the spot-kick and shot past Brice Samba to open the scoring. The second came soon after to put the game out of reach for Lens.
In a breathtaking movement, Boga skipped past the defence and attacked the halfspace, he dragged Samba towards him before tauntingly chipping a cross towards Moffi to head into the open net.
This result means that Nice will end the first half of the season in second place with the distance between them and PSG remaining at five points, while Lens had an opportunity tonight to come within touching distance of the podium positions but will now finish the year in seventh.
Nice player ratings
Marcin Bułka, 5
Melvin Bard, 5
Dante, 6 – A solid defensive performance, who cut out attacks in the first half to keep Lens from creating momentum.
Antoine Mendy, 5
Jordan Lotomba, 5
Pablo Rosario, 5
Hicham Boudaoui, 6 – The Algerian international grew into the game in the second half but was left frustrated with his teammate’s finishing.
Morgan Sanson, 5
Jérémie Boga, 7 – The most creative player on the pitch, his involvement in the second half looked to open the game up from the left wing.
Evann Guessand, 4 – He struggled to influence the game as the starting number nine and his poor finishing throughout the match was compounded by the appearance of Moffi scoring twice within minutes of featuring.
Gaëtan Laborde, 4
Lens player ratings
Brice Samba, 4
Massadio Haïdara, 4
Facundo Medina, 5 – Performed fine in an unfamiliar role as the marshall of the defensive line, had a poor sequence in the first half but generally did well to organise the backline.
Abdukodir Khusanov, 4 – Struggled in the second half and his positioning was partially at fault for the second goal as he stepped too far out of position.
Przemysław Frankowski, 5
Salis Abdul Samed, 5 – If not for the mistake that opened the scoring this would have been a highly composed defensive performance, but the clumsy error cost Lens the game.
Neil El Aynaoui, 4
Ruben Aguilar, 4
David da Costa, 5
Wesley Saïd, 4
Florian Sotoca, 4
