A solid, defiant and attacking OGC Nice side earned themselves a 3-1 win in the Mediterranean derby against OM this evening, thanks to strikes from Sofiane Diop (38’), Gaëtan Laborde (44’) and Billal Brahimi (85’). Les Aiglons are now on a run of three straight league wins and move back up to 8th in the table, six points behind 5th place and the European spot currently filled by Rennes on 40 points.

What a game and what heart from Le Gym! A peach of a goal from Billal Brahimi in the closing stages of the match was what sealed the win for Nice over OM, and it was a goal indicative of Les Rouge et Noir’s dream evening, as they played with panache, professionalism and aggression and applied coach Didier Digard’s game plan to a T. With solid and enticing play in both attack and defence, Nice move back up to 8th place in the table with 34 points, doing so in some style.

Four days after his side’s 1-0 win away to Lens, Didier Digard made a few changes to his starting 11. There was a change of system, first of all, as Le Gym set out in a 4-3-3 with Youssouf Ndayishimiye as a defensive midfielder, having played in a 5-3-2 at Bollaert. Then, there were two changes of personnel. Super Eagle Terem Moffi, who had arrived earlier in the week, made his debut for his new club, whilst Melvin Bard returned to the left side of defence. The two men came in for Antoine Mendy and Hicham Boudaoui, who were both on the bench this evening.

Uninhibited and raring to go, Les Aiglons came out of the blocks very quickly. After some excellent work from Gaëtan Laborde on the right wing, Moffi pulled the ball back into the middle for Khephren Thuram, who let fly a right-footed shot from the edge of the box that went just wide of Pau López’s net (3’). A few minutes later, the visitors again looked dangerous. Over on the left, Moffi crossed the ball in for Laborde, who laid it off to Sofiane Diop, who in turn picked it up and lined up a shot that flew over the bar (10’).

Les Niçois, who were well-organised and solid in their duels, certainly made a decent start to the game. Keeping up his momentum from recent encounters, Kasper Schmeichel asserted his authority in the face of OM’s attacks, as the Danish keeper perfectly pushed away Jonathan Clauss’s right-footed shot (17’) before turning Cengiz Ünder’s close-range strike behind for a corner. Le Gym, taking advantage of their opponents’ laps of concentration in defence, were starting to believe more than ever that they could open the scoring. After Aaron Ramsey flicked on Laborde’s excellent cross inside the box, Bard took a touch but saw his attempt miss the target (26’).

TWO GOALS AHEAD AT THE BREAK

Before the interval, Didier Digard’s men would duly be rewarded for their efforts. After Laborde’s powerful, left-footed shot was parried by López, Diop, well-positioned like a true fox in the box, got his head onto the ball to open the scoring for Nice (0-1, 38’). This incredibly enticing and efficient Gym side wanted even more, though, and continued to pose problems for Igor Tudor’s side before eventually doubling their lead. From outside the box, Laborde laid the ball off to Thuram, who saw his right-footed shot palmed away by López. The Rouge et Noir striker then accelerated to get ahead of Mattéo Guendouzi inside the penalty area and score Nice’s second goal of the derby (0-2, 44’). This was Laborde’s third goal in as many games and his seventh for Nice, giving his side a two-goal lead as they went back into the changing rooms.

After the restart, Marseille naturally came back out looking to attack a lot more. The well-positioned Jean-Clair Todibo blocked Ruslan Malinovskyi’s powerful strike before Clauss won the ball and shot off target (49’), but Le Gym certainly didn’t look satisfied. Having got onto the end of a long clearance forward from Schmeichel, Moffi expertly broke free of the Marseille defence and, after making a 50-metre solo run, winning a duel with Valentin Rongier and nutmegging Leonardo Balerdi, the strike got a shot away, but López pushed it away (52’). OM then pushed and created some decent chances from themselves through Nuno Tavares (55’) and Samuel Gigot (57’), and, under this pressure, Les Aiglons would eventually concede. After Clauss’s cutback was flicked on by Alexis Sánchez, Malinovskyi reduced the deficit with a powerful, first-time hit from inside the box (1-2, 60’).

LE GYM WITHSTAND BEFORE BRAHIMI’S BIT OF BRILLIANCE

Driven forward by their fans at the Orange Vélodrome, the home side forced Les Niçois back into their own half, but the valiant Aiglons withstood them brilliantly. Ndayishimiye managed to deflect Ünder’s dangerous strike (62’) before Thuram’s curled effort missed the target (65’). Schmeichel, who was in fine form, kept Nice in front by authoritatively pushing away Clauss’s attempt from point-blank range (71’) as well as catching Sánchez’s volley (84’).

In the closing stages, Nice again looked dangerous despite the pressure from the hosts. Jordan Lotomba sprinted forward and lined up a right-footed shot, but López palmed away the Rouge et Noir player’s attempt (75’). Then, a bit of brilliance came from Billal Brahimi. Having come on in place of Diop shortly after the hour mark, the Algerian left Balerdi for dead on the right side of the penalty area before placing a sublime, curling, left-footed shot into the opposite side of López’s net (85’). The Fennec thereby sealed a convincing win for Le Gym, who kept the score as it was during the dying moments of the game.

NEXT STOP: AJACCIO

After tonight’s stylish win, OGC Nice host AC Ajaccio next Friday night at the Allianz Riviera in the opening fixture of Matchday 23 in Ligue 1, with kick-off at 21:00 CET.