Nice defeated Rennes (3-2) on Friday evening, for the return of Ligue 1 in 2025. For its part, Stade Rennais remains stuck in 12th place with 17 points.
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Nice’s 3-2 victory against Stade Rennais on Friday January 3 allows Franck Haise’s Aiglons (who were able to count on the return of six players from injury) to move up to fourth place. A ranking just ahead of Lille which has the same number of points (27) and hosts Nantes this Saturday.
On the Stade Rennais side, despite the big debut of their flagship recruit at the start of the winter transfer window, Seko Fofana, Jorge Sampaoli still has a lot of work to do to ensure that the Bretons become a tight formation again. Especially since Steve Mandanda, whose future at the club is dotted as its leaders want a new N.1 goalkeeper, has often been in difficulty. Friday evening, however, he was unable to do anything to open the score. On a nice opening from Tanguy Ndombele, Evann Guessand beat his direct opponent, Mikayil Faye, powerfully. At the end of his deep run, the Nice striker adjusted Mandanda forcefully to score his 7th goal in Ligue 1 this season (1-0, 12th).
The Rennais then equalized on an opening from Ludovic Blas for Arnaud Kalimuendo, who lost Youssouf Ndayishimiye with a nice cross call, before beating a very late and undetermined Marcin Bulka (1-1, 27th).
But while the Niçois were suffering, a restart error from Mandanda put them back in the match. After an exchange with Faye on the left side, the French international goalkeeper wanted to find a full-axis partner. Sofiane Diop, who had anticipated everything, recovered the ball. His perfect cross shot gave Nice the advantage (2-1, 34th).
This time, Hicham Boudaoui and his team were solid defensively. And Guessand, best player of the first period, once again played Faye to attack the opposing area and cross perfectly for Gaëtan Laborde.
The Nice center forward, with a whipped scissors shot, scored his fourth goal of the season but above all his third in three consecutive L1 matches (3-1, 45th+5).
At the break, Jorge Sampaoli decided to offer a little more creativity to his attack by bringing in ex-Niçois Amine Gouiri. Quickly, this desire was rewarded. Once again, Bulka was misguided, poorly repelling the attempt from afar by Rennes’ right piston, Lorenz Assignon. His counterpart on the left, Adrien Truffert, resumed victoriously (3-2, 49th).
Back in the match, Rennes could now count on the entry of Seko Fofana, who came into play in place of Faye, inducing a change of system among the Bretons, with four defenders. But it was Nice, with a shot from Boudaoui on the bar (79th), which was the most dangerous. And despite the exclusion of Pablo Rosario (90th + 2), Nice logically won.
