Playmaker and combative in defence : Younes Belhanda epitomises two strengths that have become some of the keys to the Gym's game in 2016 / 2017. Full of smiles off the pitch, the Moroccan international shows what he is made of when he is on it. Dribbling, directing, getting back into position and tackling. Two sides of a game mastered by a constant for Nice: la grinta.

At just 9 and a half years old when he left in exile for a better life, the player who is described by Lucien Favre as "an important player" has put his abilities on the line for the balance of the side since arriving at Nice. "It's true that I am not playing in my usual position behind the striker. We speak about it a lot with the coach, but there is no problem, I am available for the squad", explained the number 5 when the subject was brought up. It's a position that is not that alien to him though, given that he played there during most of his time with Schalke 04 at the start of the year. The wing that allows him to drive the game for the Red and Blacks by stabilising their shape. Even though it keeps him further away from the goals, “which can be seen in the stats”, as he admitted (3 goals and 3 assists).

Not that this is holding the Aiglons back however, as the player who featured as a number six for part of his youth career, is never afraid to roll up his sleeves. All at the same time, whilst keeping a smile on his face as kick-off arrives. “I am not somebody who talks in the dressing room, I prefer to muck about. On the pitch, it’s totally different. I give advice, I try to motivate: I am a warrior. I want to fight for my team, and I want everybody else to fight too.”

“IF YOU DON’T PLAY TO WIN, YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN SPORT”

Often found in the final third, the Avignon native is equally an anchor when the seas begin to get choppy and things aren’t going so well. He is someone that his teammates look to to put his foot on the ball and to keep it. Who brings width to the game to take the pressure off the central block. Who fights when needed and opens up the space in front of him.

Hazards that are just as much caused by the game as they are by his hunger for success. “You need to go out to fight. If you don’t go onto the pitch to win, you have no place in sport. I said it after Lorient : we played a real mans game. It was hard, we played for 20 minutes with ten men, we held on. You need matches like that, where you win 1-0 and you put up the barricades behind you. At Montpellier, we did it a lot: a good goal scored and then let nothing through.”

Montpellier, the club at which he built his career and became Champions of France in 2012 and he will face them again on Friday at the Allianz Riviera for “a rather unusual match”.

With a big smile on his face. Before kick-off.

 

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