In their first game of 2025, OGC Nice came through an eventful encounter tonight to beat Rennes 3-2 at the Allianz Riviera. Goal scorer and assist provider Evann Guessand led the way for Le Gym, who provisionally move back into Ligue 1’s top four.

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that nothing has changed about OGC Nice despite the switch from 2024 to 2025. Against Rennes tonight, in their first outing of the calendar year, Franck Haise’s men remained loyal to the attributes that they had shown throughout the first half of the season: attack-mindedness, strength both in their duels and in their pressing and an unwavering hatred of defeat.

Against a 12th-placed Breton side determined to get itself back on track after finding the going tough so far in 2024–2025, Les Aiglons knew that their return to competitive football would be no mean feat despite their opponents’ deceptive position in the league table, and as it turned out, tonight’s match was hotly contested right until the end. Although Les Rouge et Noir went in with a two-goal lead at the break, the visitors’ quick second-half reduction of the deficit meant that it was all to play for once more, but after going down to ten men following Pablo Rosario’s rightful sending-off in the second minute of added time, the hosts held on until the end to pick up their fifth home win of the season, thereby keeping their unbeaten streak on home soil in Ligue 1 intact (five wins and three draws from eight games).

GUESSAND ON FIRE

Bolstered by the return of Antoine Mendy, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Mohamed Abdelmonem and Hicham Boudaoui to the starting XI, Le Gym started the game brightly; just three minutes after Gaëtan Laborde’s early header had warmed Steve Mandanda’s gloves – the striker was ruled to have strayed offside anyway – Evann Guessand, Nice’s top scorer this season with seven goals to his name in Ligue 1 and eight across all competitions, showed the ruthlessness required to beat the experienced Rennes keeper and to finish off a team move that had started at the feet of Marcin Bułka and had then been helped on its way by Tanguy Ndombele’s delightful through ball.

However, there would soon be a reaction from the visitors, who had won three of their final four matches of 2024. This reaction came firstly through Albert Grønbæk, whose shot across goal flirted with Bułka’s right-hand post, and then through Arnaud Kalimuendo; having been perfectly played in behind Le Gym’s defence by Ludovic Blas, the SRFC striker narrowly got to the ball ahead of the Nice keeper to level matters in the 27th minute.

DIOP GIVES LE GYM NEW IMPETUS

Having enjoyed little success towards the end of 2024 despite creating plenty of chances in many of their games, Le Gym found luck slightly easier to come by this evening, but it was luck that they had brought about themselves, as demonstrated their second goal, scored by Sofiane Diop in the 34th minute. After positioning himself on the edge of the box, the attacking midfielder intercepted Mandanda’s pass, took a touch and then masterfully beat the Rennes stopper, thereby giving Le Gym a second wind thanks to his commendable running and technical quality.

The unstoppable Guessand then put his opposite number, Mikayil Faye, to the sword, initially beating him for pace (in a move that ended with a cross almost being latched onto at the far post by Badredine Bouanani) and then getting the better of him in a one-on-one. Having covered the entire right side of the pitch, the scorer of the game’s opening goal put in a perfect cross for Laborde, who joined his teammate Diop on four Ligue 1 goals for the season with a volleyed finish in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.

LES AIGLONS HOLD ON

After a lively opening 45’ between two attacking sides, Le Gym would undoubtedly have hoped for a quieter second half, but Adrien Truffert reduced the arrears for his side four minutes after the interval by efficiently dispatching a ball that had been pushed out by Bułka following Lorenz Assignon’s shot from distance. Whilst half-time substitute Amine Gouiri and his teammates appeared to be in the ascendancy until the hour mark and even went close to equalising through Blas, Les Aiglons gradually retook control of proceedings, got their foot on the ball and let their opponents come to them. They could have even scored a fourth if Mandanda hadn’t made up for his earlier error by turning Boudaoui’s powerful strike and Mendy’s dangerous cross-come-shot onto the crossbar in the 79th and 89th minute respectively.

By staying solid in the dying moments despite being a man light, Haise’s troops held on for their seventh league win of the season and their first since beating Le Havre in early December. Ahead of their competitors’ fixtures this weekend, Les Aiglons sit fourth in the table and come to within three points of both Monaco and Marseille, although the latter still have a game in hand. Having started 2025 on a high, then, Le Gym will look to keep it going away to Reims at 19:00 CET next Saturday.

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Hugo Rondet