OGC Nice lost to Toulouse in their Ligue 1 opener on Saturday (0-1). Djibril Sidibé scored the only goal of the game in the 89th minute.

Les Aiglons suffered a cruel defeat on Saturday at the Allianz Riviera on Matchday 1 of the Ligue 1 season. Up against Toulouse, Franck Haise's men succumbed at the end of normal time to a Djibril Sidibé goal (0-1, 89'). The game was a tight affair for a long time, but in the final moments Le Gym were undone by Yann Gboho, who had made several blistering runs down the left flank, the last of these allowing the 2018 world champion to slot home from close range past Yehvann Diouf.

Prior to that, the Rouge et Noir tried for a long time to break the deadlock in vain. The first half was dominated by the visitors, who came close to opening the scoring after a misunderstanding between Diouf and Juma Bah (12'), and a Gboho move that ended with an off-target shot (45' + 1'), but Bard and his teammates responded well in the second half, which was played at a very different tempo.

LES AIGLONS LACKED EFFECTIVENESS

In the first half, only Isak Jansson threatened Guillaume Restes' goal with an in-swinging cross that went just wide of the far post (12'). After the break, it took just five minutes for the reinvigorated Niçois to trouble the Toulouse defence. But neither Bouanani, who curled just wide (50'), Mendy, whose header was cleared off the line by Charlie Cresswell (56'), nor Boudaoui, whose heavy drive was well blocked by the TFC keeper as the action continued, managed to make the net bulge.

Franck Haise made four changes with a quarter of an hour to go in the closing stages of the game and tried to get his troops back into the game to secure all three points. Jeremie Boga came on as a substitute and made his mark with a solo run followed by a low shot, only for Guillaume Restes to save again (85').

The cruel conclusion to the game saw a series of near misses fall to Sidibé, who tormented Les Aiglons on Saturday. Obviously disappointed, Les Aiglons will have a chance to make up for it at home next week, when they host Auxerre on Matchday 2 of Ligue 1 (Saturday 23rd August, 7pm).

Hugo Rondet