On their second European away trip of the season, Le Gym fell to defeat against Slavia Prague (3-2). Although they showed character to react on two occasions thanks to another goal from Gouiri and then Ndoye in the final moments of the game, Les Aiglons were beaten by Slavia’s realism in front of goal.

At the Eden Arena in Prague, Les Niçois were forced to chase the game for nearly all of the match. That was despite an open start to the game and it was in fact Pierre Lees-Melou, the stand-in captain in the absence of Dante, that first got things going. Dolberg got on the end of PLM’s effort, but the Czech keeper was equal to the Dane’s attempt on goal (7’).

Despite looking the better of the two sides, Les Aiglons gifted the hosts their first chance of the match. Slavia took full advantage of this and Kuchta, with a touch of good fortune after the ball flicked off Pelmard and Daniliuc, left Benitez with no chance (16’, 1-0). The visitors didn’t take the opener lying down and quickly reacted. In the 22nd minute, Gouiri terrified the Czech side’s defence. Lees-Melou quickly played it long into the forward, who then beat three defenders but slipped as he prepared to shoot.

11 minutes later, Gouiri wasn’t going to miss his second chance of the encounter. Lees-Melou won the ball high up the pitch and the young Frenchman played a one-two with Lopes through the middle and clipped past the goalkeeper to score his third goal of the competition (33’, 1-1). Having got themselves back into the match, Les Azuréens went behind again before heading in for the break. Sima found himself unmarked in the box from a corner and headed home to give his side the lead (43’, 2-1).

The rest of the match was scrappy and lost intensity and rhythm. Coach Vieira changed to a 4-3-3 as Reine-Adélaïde and Claude-Maurice came on to the pitch and Le Gym cracked once again. After a scrappy passage of play, the ball landed at Kuchta’s feet in the box and he secured his brace as he extended his side’s lead (71', 3-1). Slavia were barely troubled and were able to manage their lead until injury time, when Ndoye found the back of the net. The Swiss forward beat his defender and smashed past the keeper at the near post (90'+2, 3-2). Despite a final chance for Les Niçois, the Czech champions held on for the victory and climbed to the top of Group C.

OGC Nice will be back in Ligue 1 action on Sunday against AS Monaco at the Allianz Riviera (Matchday 10, 5pm).

The match in images:

Photos : Y.F.

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