On Saturday afternoon, the Nice GOC hosted RC Lens in a particular atmosphere, marked by the desire for redemption following the painful elimination in the Coupe de France against Saint-Brieuc. The meeting took place in a singular stadium, with the South stand closed due to incidents during the recent derby against Marseille. In protest against this decision of the League and the perceived lack of support on the part of the leaders of Nice, the group of fans of the Popular South chose to suspend any animation, thus depriving the stage of its usual atmosphere. In addition, the match marked Dante’s 300th appearance in the red and black colours, a significant milestone in his career.
From the start, the Niçois imposed an intense dry cleaning, putting the Lens defence to a tough test. After a missed recovery, Hicham Boudaoui recovered the ball, which was quickly redistributed to Guessand, slightly missing the opening of the score. However, a fault of Mohamed-Ali Cho on the counter counter thwarted this attempt. A few minutes later, a new mistake of adversarial revival allowed Boudaoui to obtain a penalty, which Gaëtan Laborde successfully took on, deceiving the Lens goaltender and offering the advantage to the Nice GOC. The first half ended on a 1-0 score, with the Niçois perfectly controlling the game and benefiting from a decisive intervention by Hervé Koffi to stop Jonathan Claus’s strike.
The second period began in the best way for the Azurians, with Facundo Medina receiving a second yellow card at the 57th minute, allowing the RC Lens to evolve into a digital inferiority. This red card revived the niçois offensive ardour, and Jonathan Claus finally doubled the gap at the 64th minute, with a powerful hit following a corner perfectly orchestrated with Mohamed-Ali Cho. The rest of the match was marked by a Nice domination without actually putting the opposing defense in trouble. The OGC Nice won over the 2-0 score, a deserved win that allowed it to climb to third place in Ligue 1, offering a long-awaited relief after the disappointment of the Coupe de France.