“I didn’t think that I was going to play, and then in the end, I found myself on the pitch at the last minute. It changed everything…” For the first match against Paris this season, Walter Benitez replaced Yoan Cardinale at short notice. Since this last minute start at the Parc, the Argentinian goalkeeper has been between the Nice sticks in the league ever since. A look back at that turning point.

27 October 2017, 19:43. The Nice starting eleven is officially revealed on OGCNICE.com and on all of the club’s social media channels. Lucien Favre starts his side in a 3-5-2. Mario Balotelli up-front, Wesley Sneijder take the place behind him, Papy Mendy in the hole, Dante in the control tower and Yoan Cardinale in goal.

Voici l'équipe alignée par Lucien Favre au coup d'envoi de #PSGOGCN
Issa Nissa !!! pic.twitter.com/ZB3bofSHsC

— OGC Nice (@ogcnice) 27 octobre 2017

A last minute change is announced just minutes before kick-off. It concerns the last wall of defence. “5 minutes before the match, Lionel (Letizi, Goalkeeping Coach) told me that I needed to play, remembers Walter Benitez. We warmed up a bit and I went out there.” The real start of his Nice adventure...

“It changed everything”

Because, despite the defeat (0-3), the Argentine was convincing. “Every time that I have the possibility to be on the pitch, I want to show what I can do, he says with a bit of hindsight. When I arrived in Nice, that was already the case. Even if the first season was difficult, I always thought about playing. I worked for it, I prepared myself. Since this match, I have had the chance to really express myself.” The Francilien wave eventually moved on. During an important trip to Toulouse where he kept his side in the game by pushing away the penalty for 2-0, Le Gym started to turn things around. Moving from 17th to 7th between the first match at the Parc and the return at the Allianz Riviera on Sunday. 

In goal, Benitez is gaining in confidence and is making the position his own. Like two years earlier when Cardi' took his chance at Rennes after the withdrawals of Hassen and Pouplin.

18 L1 matches later (19 in total this season), he is the first to admit that being able to play back to back “is magnifiicent”. For “him”, his “wife” and his “head”. But he refuses to become complacent: “I worked before, I still work. After having shown that I could play, I need to prove that I can continue to help the team. Especially with the end to the season that awaits us…”

The “start of this end to the season” starts with the visit of the leader of the top-flight. “In Argentina, people spoke to me about Paris, because you are facing Di Maria, Pastore, Lo Celso, Cavani. It’s true, it will be a good match, he continued, before providing a sober end note to this chat. A match “where there will be something to do”…

C.D.