Nice largely wins in Reims and takes 4th place

A match more important than it seems. Beaten at Saint-Étienne (3-1) last Saturday, Stade de Reims was going through a difficult period, remaining on a series of five games without a win (3 draws, 2 defeats) which had caused it to slip in the rankings. Opposite, Nice showed much better dynamics before the meeting this Saturday. With only one defeat over the last 12 days (6 wins, 5 draws), the Aiglons had come back to within one point of Lyon (5th).

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From the start of the match, it was the Niçois who put pressure on the Champenois. Served on the left in the Reims area, Sofiane Diop curled a ball with his right foot towards the opposing goal. Embarrassed by his defenders and the rebound, Yehvann Diouf still managed to deflect the ball (10th). Continuing its offensives, Nice wasted no time in opening the scoring. Jonathan Clauss crossed perfectly from a corner for Evann Guessand, whose header deceived Diouf and ended up in the right corner of the goal (28th, 0-1). However, a defensive error gave Junya Ito the equalizer (34th, 1-1). Before returning to the locker room, OGC Nice took the lead again. From a penalty, Gaëtan Laborde won his duel and transformed his panenka with his left foot, catching Diouf on the wrong foot (44th, 1-2).

Nice takes off

Returning from the locker room, Gaëtan Laborde scored twice, allowing his team to take off (64th, 1-3). After a few changes, Reims will reduce the gap thanks to a very good goal from Mamadou Diakhon, who took advantage of the passivity of the Nice defense (71st, 2-3). At the end of the match, Ali Abdi (86th, 2-4), then Mohamed-Ali Cho (90th+1) came to definitively bury the last hopes of Reims. Cho’s goal was eventually ruled out by the referee for offside.

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With this significant success, Nice moves to the top of the ranking. The club from the south of France is in 4th place in Ligue 1, taking advantage of Olympique Lyonnais’ defeat against Brest. For its part, Reims remains in the soft underbelly of the championship, in 12th place with 20 points.