Reduced to ten men on the hour mark, OGC Nice went down 4-0 to league leaders PSG in a sold-out Allianz Riviera. Nice sit 15th in Ligue 1 with 27 points, five points ahead of Auxerre, currently occupying the relegation play-off spot.

For the home match against PSG, Claude Puel made three changes to the team that won in Angers last weekend (Matchday 26, 0-2): Ndayishimiye returned to midfield, while Diop and Wahi started in attack. Diouf, Mendy, Dante (c), Bah, Clauss, Boudaoui, Sanson, and Bard made up the rest of the Rouge et Noir starting XI, in a 3-5-2 formation.

A valiant Nice punished by penalty call

PSG took control of the ball against a well-organised Nice side, but Les Aiglons found themselves in trouble in transition. The Parisians looked dangerous on several occasions: Zaïre-Emery saw his shot blocked (9'), Kvaratskhelia tried his luck twice but Diouf made fine saves (12', 19'), and Zabarnyi forced the Nice goalkeeper into a diving save to tip away his header (22').

After the half-hour mark, Nice grew into the match and created some promising opportunities of their own. Diop tried his luck from distance (31'), Dante saw his header go wide (33'), and the active Clauss delivered a inch-perfect cross to Wahi, but the ball was cleared by Zabarnyi in the box (35').

On the counterattack, Kvaratskhelia headed a Doué cross and thought he had scored into an empty net, but Bah produced a miracle clearance to send the ball out for a corner (38’). That corner marked the turning point of the first half: a handball by Sanson in the box saw PSG awarded a penalty, which Nuno Mendes converted (0-1, 42’). Despite the goal, Nice continued to look dangerous, notably with Bard heading over the goal (45+3’). A deserving Nice side went into the break trailing by a goal.

Nice reduced to 10 men

Just after the restart, PSG doubled their lead. Set up by Nuno Mendes in the box, Doué controlled the ball at point-blank range before beating Diouf with a powerful shot into the roof of the net (0-2, 49’). Nice looked to respond: from a Clauss cross, Sanson took a first-time shot in the box but saw his attempt go just wide of Safonov’s goal (57’). Le Gym then suffered another blow with the sending-off of Ndayishimiye for a dangerous tackle on Kang-in Lee following a VAR review (61’).

Down to ten men, Nice continued to fight, and Diouf had to work hard to parry a shot from Doué (63’). PSG created further chances, with a goal by Kvaratskhelia ultimately disallowed for an offside by Dembélé (69’), followed by another attempt by Doué, wide of the target (70’).

Nice looked to weather the storm and tried to preserve their goal in the closing stages (79’). But the pressure eventually told for PSG. Dro Fernández received the ball and scored Paris’s third goal from close-range (0-3, 81’) before Zaïre-Emery, set up by Beraldo, scored Paris’s fourth goal with a slice of luck (0-4, 85’).

The players now head off for the March international break, but return on Saturday, 4 April, for Le Gym’s trip to the Stade de la Meinau to face Strasbourg in Matchday 28 of Ligue 1 (kick-off at 17:00 CET).