Match report

Le Gym show efficiency and unity in dominant 2-0 win over Lille

October 29 2025, 11:26 PM

Thanks to goals from Sofiane Diop and Isak Jansson, OGC Nice beat LOSC Lille 2-0 at the Allianz Riviera this evening (Matchday 10 of Ligue 1).

Having stayed solid at the back while showing both togetherness and efficiency up front, Franck Haise’s men continued their game-by-game improvement this evening by earning a satisfying 2-0 victory over LOSC Lille, which was also their third consecutive win in Ligue 1 and their fifth straight game without defeat in the French top flight. As a result, Les Aiglons provisionally sit seventh in the table with 17 points, thereby drawing themselves a little closer to the leading pack while boasting one point more than at the same stage last season.

Before kick-off, Haise made two changes to the side that had emerged victorious from Rennes at the weekend, with Juma Bah and Tiago Gouveia both making appearances in tonight’s starting XI, accompanied by Yéhvann Diouf, Antoine Mendy, Kojo Peprah Oppong, captain Melvin Bard, Salis Abdul Samed, Charles Vanhoutte, Sofiane Diop, Kevin Carlos and Jérémie Boga.

The match began at a brisk pace, with both teams looking to attack and to avoid letting any passes go astray, but it was the visitors who created the first chance of the encounter in the sixth minute, when Thomas Meunier’s header had the in-form Diouf stretching to push it away.

It wouldn’t take Le Gym long to respond, though, as Gouveia tried his luck just a minute later from the right side of the penalty area following a fine team move, but his left-footed shot flew narrowly wide of the target. Against a dangerous LOSC team, Les Niçois were well-organised defensively, as demonstrated not only by Bard, who put himself in the way of Félix Correia’s 11th-minute strike to deflect it behind for a corner, but also by Mendy, who stopped a Lille attack dead in its tracks with an excellent tackle on Matias Fernández-Pardo.

diop’s perfect panenka

Despite the northerners’ pressure, Le Gym remained tactically solid and disciplined, with the highly attentive Diouf intervening once again at a corner to deny a Nathan Ngoy header. Shortly before the half-hour mark, though, Les Rouge et Noir would force their opponents into a costly mistake as Kevin Carlos was scythed down inside the box by Arnaud Bodart, who had made a mess of coming out to claim the ball and given the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Full of confidence, Diop made no mistake in converting the resulting penalty with a superb panenka, thereby putting his side in front, scoring his sixth goal in his last five Ligue 1 appearances and becoming the first Nice player to find the back of the net in at least five successive league games since Nenad Bjeković’s six-match scoring streak between April and August 1977.

Following that opener, Franck Haise’s men retreated slightly and left the initiative to Lille, which led to Diouf having to fist away a long-range effort from Romain Perraud in the 40th minute, but at the break, it was the hosts who led thanks to the composure of their no. 10.

A COMPACT DEFENSIVE UNIT

After the restart, LOSC took control of proceedings and moved further into Nice’s half of the pitch, but Diouf was as vigilant as ever, particularly in the 50th minute, when he pushed away a dangerous cross from the right. Not long later, Hamza Igamane tried his luck with a close-range shot across goal, but the ball headed safely wide of the net.

Despite struggling to escape Lille’s press in the second half, Les Aiglons stuck together, kept their shape in defence and remained relatively untroubled by Bruno Génésio’s players’ domination of the possession. Then, in the 67th minute, Franck Haise made a triple change to bring on some fresh legs and to strengthen his side’s midfield and attack, with Diop, Boga and Abdul Samed making way for Boudaoui, Louchet and Jansson.

JANSSON OPENS HIS ACCOUNT IN LIGUE 1

The hosts were now looking to take advantage of the mistakes made by a Lille side lacking precision, and it was after one such poor clearance from the northerners that Boudaoui was able to feed the ball to Jansson, whose shot from 30 yards out failed to beat Bodart. Then, a few minutes later, Oppong got his head onto the end of a free kick from Louchet, but his effort missed the target.

Very shortly afterwards, Hákon Haraldsson was given a yellow card – and was perhaps lucky not to pick up a booking of a different colour – for a foul on Boudaoui while the Algerian was virtually through on goal. It was at this point that Haise made another change, bringing on Morgan Sanson for Vanhoutte, and the coach’s decision paid off in the 87th minute, when Sanson played a superb through ball for Jansson, which gave the Swedish striker the chance to hit it with his right foot inside the box, beating Bodart and doubling Nice’s lead. Following another fantastic move by the home side – including a backheel from Sanson – Jansson even came close to bagging himself a brace, but this time, Bodart managed to gather the ball at the second time of asking.