Away to Angers on Sunday, Les Aiglons opened the scoring through Sofiane Diop in just the second minute of play, which begs the question: when have they previously found the back of the net this quickly?

A FIRST IN THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS

Diop's finish after one minute and 48 seconds was OGC Nice's fastest goal in a Ligue 1 match since Hicham Boudaoui's strike against ESTAC Troyes on 30th April 2023, which found its target with one minute and 21 seconds on the clock and came at the end of a magnificent, 26-pass move.

During that same season, Joe Bryan took a second longer to fire in the opener away to FK Partizan in the UEFA Conference League, while Mattia Viti headed the ball home after one minute and 37 seconds, also against Troyes.

ONE KASPER AND TWO ÉRICS

To find any trace of a goal scored within the first minute of play, we need to go back to 14th August 2021, when, in their first away game of the 2021–22 campaign, Christophe Galtier's men earned a scintillating 4–0 win over Lille, having taken the lead through Kasper Dolberg's opener after 54 seconds.

When the question was put to them via the club's social media during the game at the Stade Raymond Kopa, Le Gym's fans delved into the statistics to highlight a few particularly early OGC Nice goals.

Among the fastest in recent years is Éric Bauthéac's goal after 30 seconds of what was eventually a 4–3 victory away to Toulouse on 6th April 2013. That night, the excitement started early and ended late for the Nice fans, as Kévin Anin nicked the winner in added time.

Behind one quick-witted Éric lies another, though, as it was Éric Mouloungui who got Le Gym up and running after just 26 seconds of his side's penultimate Ligue 1 game of the 2010–11 season, which was against Lorient at the Stade du Ray. In fact, the Gabon international's brace that day ended up helping Les Aiglons to avoid relegation to Ligue 2.

LE GYM'S FANS HAVE A GOOD MEMORY

Finally, the name on many supporters' lips was that of Marama Vahirua, who scored the only goal – a “Tahiti Goal”, as the club's fans would affectionately call it – in Les Rouge et Noir's 1–0 win over PSG on 9th May 2007, thanks to a moment of true inspiration in the 44th second of the match.