Le Gym, second in Ligue 1, took advantage of the exploits of its goalkeeper, Marcin Bulka, to win during the fateful session. Despite a plethora of absentees, the Niçois were not trapped by the second in Ligue 2. They will know their future opponent, Monday evening from 7 p.m., time of the draw for the round of 16.
Nice launched its 2024 perfectly, this Saturday once morest Auxerre, second in Ligue 2. Francesco Farioli’s men still had to wait many minutes to win a match that they dominated for a long time without managing to score. All he needed was precision in the last thirty meters to score.
Already deprived of Todibo, Bard, Dante (suspended), Thuram, Bouanani, Diop, Baldé (injured) and Boga, Boudaoui and Atal (summoned to the CAN), the Aiglons lost Perraud (thigh injury) at the last moment ) and Sanson (thigh alert).
Faced with all these absences, the Côte d’Azur technician reorganized his team around a five-man defense (Lotomba-Mendy-Youssouf-Amraoui-Louchet). He lined up two recuperators with Rosario and Belahyane and three attackers (Laborde, Moffi and Claude-Maurice).
Despite the absences, the Niçois showed great collective mastery. They combined a lot, especially in the middle. They found discrepancies thanks to the activity of Claude-Maurice, Laborde or Belahyane between the lines. Defensively, Mendy showed a lot of solidity and ease.
Bulka takes out Onaiwu’s shot on goal
On a nice opening from Mendy, Moffi got the first chance of the match, but the Nigerian came up once morest De Percin, the AJA goalkeeper. Continuing on, Louchet was unable to knock the ball into the empty goal (3′).
Then Claude-Maurice saw his shot blocked (22′) following a great collective action. Finally, alerted by Laborde in the depth, Moffi refocused, fixed Jubal and Pellenard, then pushed De Percin with the tap (32′).
Laborde, offset by Moffi’s chest, then shot at point blank range at De Percin (56′).
By dint of wasting, Nice remained under threat from the Burgundians. Ayé, on a pass from Raveloson, slipped the ball between Bulka’s legs. Fortunately for the Gym, the attacker was flagged offside (72′). Perrin called on Bulka in the saves with a long shot (90’+2).
Before this last ammunition for AJA, Nice missed two great opportunities. Guessand’s header was off target (73′), while Rosario, in an excellent position, was blocked by Pellenard (75′).
The Niçois therefore relied on penalties to escape.
In this session, De Percin first dismissed Guessand’s first attempt. In the process, Bulka deflected Jubal’s shot on goal which still crossed the line (0-1).
Moffi, Raveloson and Rosario then scored on each side (2-2). Then Perrin found the post and Lotomba gave Gym the advantage (3-2).
Bulka intervened on Onaiwu’s shot so that Laborde might send his team into the round of 16 (4-2). A well-deserved qualification for Nice who should never have waited until the end of the evening to qualify
