The people of Nice must catch up
Nice, the only favorite in difficulty before the return play-offs of the Europa League Conference on Thursday, is under pressure a week after its surprise defeat against Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-0).
Dominating for most of the first leg at Bloomfield Stadium, the Aiglons failed to find the fault against Israeli goalkeeper Dor Peretz, before conceding a goal fifteen minutes from the end of the match by Perica ( 74th).
This defeat in the first round, certainly outside, puts OGC Nice in an uncomfortable position.
Amine Gouiri's teammates are already back to the wall and are forced to win on their Alianz Riviera lawn to hope to compete in the C4.
But their latest results do not encourage optimism.
A season not yet launched
Unconvincing at their start to the season in the league, with two draws against Toulouse (1-1) and Strasbourg (1-1) and a defeat at Clermont (1-0), the Niçois will have to be more effective.
In four games in all competitions, the Aiglons have scored just two goals and conceded one goal in each of their four games at the start of the season.
In Israel, Nice had lacked efficiency in the last gesture to bring back a result which would have placed it in a good position.
Despite this poor performance, the Côte d'Azur coach insisted on remobilizing his troops at a press conference and believes in a feat: “
We must not attack without a second thought.
We will have to be smart in the game. But we know that we have to win with a two-goal difference.
We will do it
”.
Nice will have to perform well on home soil this Thursday, at the risk of seeing their season barely started, take a wrong turn.