With Le Gym set to host Toulouse at 15:00 CET this Sunday in the season’s antepenultimate round of Ligue 1 fixtures, here are three narratives surrounding the clash with the men from La Ville Rose.  

TODIBO TO BE HONOURED

Having joined Le Gym in the winter of 2021, Jean-Clair Todibo reached the 100-appearance mark with Les Rouge et Noir in the 2-1 win over Stade Rennais on Matchday 34. On Sunday, the centre-back will be rewarded with a shirt bearing the number 100 at the end of the warm-up.

In a slight twist of fate, JC will be honoured just before he faces Toulouse FC, the club that developed him and gave him his professional debut. Todibo made ten appearances for TFC in the top flight, scoring one goal.

A GOOD MEMORY FOR BOUDAOUI

Two players from the current Nice squad started the last game at home to Toulouse, which took place on 21st December 2019: Dante and Hicham Boudaoui. In that encounter, the ‘Prince of Béchar’ scored a header to bag the first of his nine goals so far for Les Rouge et Noir. Malang Sarr and Pierre-Lees Melou were the two other scorers on what was an excellent evening for Les Aiglons.

Having started the game on the substitutes’ bench, Khephren Thuram came on for Boudaoui in the 68th minute.

Currently on loan at Lens and Hoffenheim respectively, Alexis Claude-Maurice and Kasper Dolberg were also named in the starting line-up.

TWO FIRSTS IN THE REVERSE FIXTURE

The reverse fixture dates back to 7th August 2022 and the first day of the season, which offered up an interesting power struggle in the heat of the Stadium de Toulouse. Two firsts punctuated proceedings: Alexis Beka Beka’s first start and Aaron Ramsey’s first appearance for Le Gym, with the Wales captain coming on for the last quarter of an hour and to good effect, as after just 83 seconds on the pitch, he scored what remains his only goal for Les Aiglons in a 1-1 draw.

 

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OGC Nice / Icon Sport