Cross-hunted at the top of Ligue 1. After its success over Marseille, Saturday October 21 in the evening, OGC Nice went to dislodge Paris Saint-Germain from the throne of leader that the reigning champion club had itself snatched from Monaco in the afternoon thanks to its great success over Strasbourg.
But the Monegasques, opposed to Metz on Sunday, will have the opportunity to regain their possession at the end of a ninth day which sends the Marseillais far from these considerations. After their third setback of the season, Gennaro Gattuso’s players are seventh pending the other matches on Sunday and are now seven lengths behind the Nice.
However, OM once again showed some signs of regaining control on Saturday, with a more ambitious game, more confidence and more unity since the recent arrival of the Italian coach. But the Marseillais can really blame themselves because it was they who turned the match around, between the 70th and 80th minutes of play. It was first of all Pierre-Eymerick Aubameyang, invisible until then, who forgot to kill the game by missing an open face-to-face against Marcin Bulka, placing his little ball on the post (73rd).
Balerdi craque
This is the kind of action that the Gabonese attacker, by his status, his experience and his profile, is supposed to carry out. He did not do it and, at the other end of the field, it was Leonardo Balerdi who precipitated the fall of OM. While he had been impeccable until then, the Argentinian left his match alone and picked up two yellow cards in five minutes, for repeated protests then for an avoidable foul.
He left his team at ten and on the free kick, Nice substitute Evann Guessand placed a superb header, too powerful for Ruben Blanco (1-0, 80th), who came in place of Pau Lopez, injured shortly before on a clearance.
Previously, the duel had been balanced. So balanced, in fact, that he was devoid of the slightest opportunity for a long time. There were danger creators on both sides, however, with Iliman Ndiaye or Amine Harit on the Marseille side, and Jérémie Boga or Terem Moffi for the Aiglons.
Definitely back at an excellent level, Harit was then the detonator of all Marseille actions, while Jonathan Clauss, on the right, seemed tired after his successful stay with the France team.
But the Niçois were basically quite comfortable in their false rhythm, only accelerating when Moffi was launched towards the depth or when Boga had ten meters in front of him to torment Clauss, whose painful evening ended at the break .
A bleeding Nice dry cleaner
While the duel of 100% Italian coaches between Gennaro Gattuso and Francesco Farioli risked taking on the air of a caricature of a tactical-sophorific match, Nice then entered the second period better, with first several shots off target but above all pressing much bloodier.
Despite a few Marseille chances, notably a header from Harit well taken out by Bulka, Nice never really shook and struck when OM started to lose control.
Saturday’s defeat therefore confirms that Marseille, having gone from the indolent pace of Marcelino to the more energetic game of Gattuso, still does not have 90 minutes of autonomy, neither physical nor mental, which is a little annoying at the end of October and as the matches continue with the upcoming receptions of AEK Athens on Thursday and Lyon on Sunday.
“We had the chances to score. We are not very well rewarded. In Monaco we deserved something [3-2 defeat] and this evening too. But we are on the right road,” said Gennaro Gattuso, who has won one match in four (3-0 against Le Havre) since his arrival on the Provençal bench.
On the Nice side, at the end of a very eventful week, marked by the suspension of striker Youcef Atal, targeted by a preliminary investigation for “apology of terrorism” after a publication linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the controversy surrounding defender Jean-Clair Todibo who had laughed during the minute of silence before Netherlands – France, the sky turned blue again.
