​The Gym shared the points with Rennes in Sunday's Ligue 1 Week 32 encounter. Up against solid visitors, Lucien Favre's men were unable to find the breakthrough, but remain in the hunt for the European places.

The Gym were aiming for victory. The draw suits Rennes better and keeps the status quo, that's pretty much how to sum up the Week 32 fixture between these two.

Big stakes, big battle: the 22 players went toe-to-toe in the opening 45 minutes. In a compact 4-4-2, Rennes defended high up the pitch and came after Nice in midfield, thanks in large part to the physical presence of their centre-backs, Jérémy Gélin and Joris Gnagnon, who prevented the hosts going deep. In the second part of the game, Rennes dropped deeper, and tried to work on the counter-attack.

Nice, in a 4-3-3, looked for solutions in their usual style. Playing quick, short passes to pull their opponents out of shape, and they moved quickly down the flanks. There weren't many chances (two shots on target to three in the visitors' favour), but Nice had a man in form. Found by Maxime Le Marchand, Alassane Plea stepped away from Benjamin Bourigeaud, and fired goalwards — the ball took a touch off Gélin on its way past Koubek (1-0, 16'). It was just desserts for the club's Player of the Month for March, who was again the pick of his side.

In spite of going behind, Sabri Lamouchi's men never looked likely to give in, and in fact, they reacted quickly. Mehdi Zeffane's driven low cross was turned in by Bourigeaud, whose movement got him the space he needed in the six-yard box (1-1, 27').

Both goalscorers might have put their sides in front at the break, but Plea, found by Pierre Lees-Melou in the penalty area, saw two efforts blocked by Gnagnon (35') while Bourigeaud's outrageous attempted lob from inside his own half was tipped over by Walter Benitez (37').

DROP IN TEMPO

A fierce Plea strike was boxed out by Koubek, and Lees-Melou nearly collected the follow-up (50') as Nice sought to make the difference early in the second half.

Plea freed Alain Saint-Maximin to charge forward. The number 7 skipped pasy Ramy Bensebaini, but missed the target (56') as Nice pushed and Rennes dropped back, resorting to rare forays forward.

In spite of clearly dominating the first 20 minutes of the second half, Nice eventually ran out of steam. Mika Le Bihan's return to action for the last ten minutes of the game provided the late good news of the day as it ended all square. Nice now have six games to overtake their opponents, who remain in pole position to qualify for next season's UEFA Europa League.

C.D.

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