Proud of the spirit shown by his side, Paul Baysse was a very happy captain after Le Gym’s 2-0 victory over Olympique Lyonnais. But all the while keeping his feet on the ground, because while he doesn’t know how far this Nice side can go, he knows there’s still a long way to go...

A victory is always positive. Obviously happy with his side’s performance on Friday night, the No.4 was quick to highlight one of the major satisfactions of the evening: Le Gym’s excellent home record this season. "We know that to have a good season, you have to play well at home," he declared in the corridors of Allianz. "That’s what we did tonight: it was important to claim all three points against a very good side, full of internationals."

Les Rouge et Noir made an excellent start. "Malang Sarr headed a great ball back across the face and I just hit it," explained the defender whose superb volley opened the scoring in the fifth minute. "It’s important to be able to score early and also from set pieces."

'A lot of maturity' 

Bursting out of the blocks, Les Aiglons maintained the pace, having learnt from past errors. "It’s not always easy to score early because the opponents push hard, chasing the game," continued Baysse. "But we really controlled the game well, playing a formation that suits us well. Since the start of the season, we’ve had a few tough matches, and every time, the team has answered the challenge, shown a lot of maturity and professionalism. We never give up and that bodes well for the future."

But for now, nobody is getting carried away. "Being top of the league is great," concluded the No.4. "We are experiencing a great thing as a team. But we’re not focusing on the other sides. We don’t know how far we can go, but we want to win as many games as possible. We still have ti improve to play well for the full 90 minutes. Tonight we will celebrate this win, but tomorrow it’s back to work to prepare for the Europa League."

Nice travel to Salzburg on Thursday in another crucial game...

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