Beaten 3-1 by Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, OGC Nice is eliminated from the Coupe de France at the quarter-final stage. Gaëtan Laborde (37’) scored the only goal for Les Rouge et Noir. 

Nice's Cup run ends in the quarter-finals. Almost a month after their 4-1 victory in Montpellier in the Round of 16, OGC Nice travelled to Paris on Wednesday in the hope of repeating the feat they achieved in January 2022, when Les Rouge et Noir eliminated the powerhouse from France's oldest competition. The only French side to have triumphed over PSG this season, 3-2 on Matchday 5 of Ligue 1 (15 September 2023), Le Gym came out with their traditional 4-3-3 formation, featuring Gaëtan Laborde, Evann Guessand and Jérémie Boga in attack.

A DIFFICULT START

But it was a tough start, with Paris causing Francesco Farioli's side problems with their intense high pressing game. Gonçalo Ramos came close to heading past Marcin Bulka (5'). Le Gym finally cracked under the pressure and after a fine team move by Paris and a neat combination between Fabian Ruiz and Kylian Mbappé, the France international opened the scoring (1-0, 14').

Despite the efforts of Dante and his team-mates to break the Parisian stranglehold, Les Aiglons were within a whisker of falling two behind a few minutes later when Ramos' close-range effort flew over Bulka's crossbar (24') and then Mbappé's curling shot, deflected by Todibo came back off the Nice keeper's left-hand post (25'). More good play from Ousmane Dembélé, saw Le Gym's last line of defence finally give way a second time, allowing Ruiz to finish from close range (2-0, 33').

LABORDE AND BOGA LEAD THE FIGHTBACK

Despite the two-goal deficit, Les Aiglons showed plenty of character, and fought back. Led by Jérémie Boga's explosive dribbling, the Côte d'Azur side pulled a goal back through Gaëtan Laborde, who was on hand at the far post to volley home left-footed (2-1, 37'). Laborde, who had already scored on his side's previous two trips to Paris, came close to grabbing a brace a few minutes later, narrowly missing Donnarumma's goal (40'). A last-ditch Nuno Mendes intervention then denied the Nice striker, looking to get on the end of a good cross from Melvin Bard (45+1').

The Aiglons returned with renewed ambition for the second half and created two more great chances in quick succession. In a move similar to the goal scored against Montpellier last Friday (MD25, 1-2), Laborde found Boga with a good cross in from the right. The Côte d'Ivoire international's control and then shot failed to beat Donnarumma, who saved at his feet (47'). Jordan Lotomba also gave the Parc des Princes a scare when he found himself one on one against the Italian 'keeper, only to see his effort fly wide of the mark (55').

PARIS FINISHED STRONG 

However, the record 14-time winners of the competition finally got back on track thanks to Lucas Beraldo, who got in behind Nice's defence to head home a Vitinha set-piece (3-1, 61). The third goal boosted PSG and Mbappé, who could have had a brace were it not for Lotomba's desperate tackle (76'). In the ten minutes of stoppage time, Le Gym, buoyed by the injection of attacking players from the bench, were unlucky not to reduce the deficit a second time, denied by Donnarumma's excellent reflex save from Alexis Claude-Maurice's shot, deflected by Terem Moffi (90+5').

In the end, OGC Nice bows out of the 2023/24 edition of the Coupe de France at the quarter-final stage, having done everything in their power to resist the giants of the domestic scene. Les Aiglons will now be looking to bounce back against at Lens in Ligue 1 this Saturday (Kick off 21:00 CET).

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Hugo Rondet