TOPS
Thuram guides the Nice midfield
With Kephren Thuram and Aaron Ramsey, OCG Nice was able to count on solid midfielders to guide the Aiglons collective.
With several decisive breakthroughs, Thuram was clearly the main architect of Nice's domination throughout the match.
With 96% of passes and 100% of successful dribbles, the number 19 of the Gym has missed almost nothing, winning six of his seven duels.
He set fire in the defense of Maccabi, very often overtaken by the decisions of Kephren Thuram.
It was also he who perfectly served Melvin Bard on the right side, precious in the Nice creation this evening.
Peretz delayed the Nice party
The Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper made a total of six saves: in the air or on the ground, Daniel Peretz came close to being the hero of the match for the Israeli team.
Very often abandoned by his defense, the young 22-year-old goalkeeper intervened against Delort by diving to the ground (33rd).
Also author of a double parade (66th), he was also solid on his line.
The Maccabi goalkeeper is the main reason behind the extra time.
Without Peretz, the Telavivians would have left the Allianz Riviera much sooner.
FLOPS
Maccabi's fragile defense
With a slight lead acquired in the first leg in Israel, Maccabi Tel-Aviv came to Nice with the aim of maintaining their qualifying ticket.
A defensive strategy that requires strong... defenders.
Unfortunately for coach Vladimir Ivic, his defensive sector was far too fragile, in particular Enric Saborit and André Geraldes who twice offered a ball back to Andy Delort face-to-face (32nd).
Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz repeatedly made up for the errors of his defenders.
Gouiri sees red
Entering the game in the 77th minute, Amine Gouiri received a first yellow card very quickly, two minutes after replacing striker Alex Claude-Maurice, for a sole on van Overeem (exited on a stretcher seriously injured on this shock).
At the start of extra time, the former Lyonnais was immediately sent off (100th) for a frustration foul after losing the ball in the Maccabi area.
If he was quite clean with the pass, he never really had a positive impact on the Nice attacking collective until his expulsion.