A brace from Mario Balotelli ensured a fantastic Sunday for Le Gym, as OGC Nice secured a 2-1 victory over Dijon in a game which saw the players and the fans superbly sign off 2016 at the Allianz Riviera. Now Nice waits impatiently for the adventures still to come…

This first weekend of the holiday season brought a festive atmosphere to the Allianz Riviera. Outside, children and adults alike gathered to support Le Gym and to make the most of the Christmas Village. On the pitch, 22 players battled hard for over ninety minutes in a fantastic game with a frenetic intensity. The situation was clear at kick-off: Nice needed to fight to keep itself top of the league, whilst Dijon had to try to pull itself away from the relegation zone. Both sides were set up to meet their objective, without shutting up shop. It made for a high quality game with both sides threatening. It would be Le Gym, however, to get the victory and to offer an early Christmas present to their fans.

Returning to a 4-3-3 for kick-off, with Max Le Marchand back at centre back, Sarr and Souquet at full-back, Plea on the wing and Balotelli up-front, Lucien Favre’s starting eleven tried to put its opponent under pressure from the get-go. On the pitch, they would lean on the 12th man to create an atmosphere that would guide them to victory over the Bourgingnons. But they wouldn’t roll over easily. They resisted during the early stages of the game and proved to be dangerous themselves through the power and quality of Loïs Diony, who was always a threat to the Nice back four and had a good opportunity after fifteen minutes after he broke alone and just missed the target.

It wasn’t easy during the penultimate game before the winter break. But a long cross field ball from Dante, would be able to break down the Dijon five-man defensive line. The Brazilian international found Plea after thirty minutes, who went past Abdelhamid before being tripped by the defender. Mr Millot pointed to the spot and Super Mario duly converted from 12 yards and celebrated his seventh league goal of the season.

Le Gym thought that they had done the hard part. But a risky challenge from Souquet in his own box, giving away a penalty brought an end to that thought. Tavares hit the penalty straight down the middle and got the Dijonnais back into the game. It was back to the drawing board for the Aiglons and whilst they looked dangerous from free-kicks (Cyprien 26’ and Balotelli 46’), they were left exposed on several occasions. And if DFCO could have been trailing at the break, they could equally have been leading, had Dante not cleared off the line from a free-kick on twenty-two minutes and if Cardinale had not saved the shot from Chafik comfortably after forty minutes.

Efficient, solid

Everything was finally back on track when shortly after the start of the second half, Arnaud Souquet ate up the space in front of him and delivered a powerful cross into the box. Super Mario (49’) was waiting in the middle and tapped home from six yards to give Le Gym the lead again. This lead was kept with the help of several saves from Cardinale, the first following a scramble in the box and the second, when he saved well following a powerful volley from the in-form Tavares with an hour gone. Balotelli went close again after 66 minutes and his shot that flew past Reynet like a bullet and only missed his goal by a couple of centimetres.

Alassane Plea’s teammates became leggy in the closing part of the game. They applied themselves well and defended stoutly. And despite a couple of dangerous moments, they weren’t to be beaten, and even hit the bar when Plea played Walter in on goal (87’). 

It was to be a red and black day and the score would not change again, allowing Nice to maintain their place at the top of the league on Sunday, regardless of the score in the game between Monaco and Lyon.

With a cushion of 7 points on Paris, third in L1…

C.D.

 

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