OGC Nice suffered a 2-1 defeat on Thursday against Union Saint-Gilloise's home ground in the UEFA Europa League. Evann Guessand scored Le Gym's goal.

Cruel. Painful. In the dying moments of added time, OGC Nice fell to defeat, undone by Franjo Ivanovic's second goal, who also opened the scoring earlier in the match (33', 90+2'). Played on a poorly maintained pitch at the Stade Roi Baudouin, the match proved frustrating for a combative Le Gym side still struggling with numerous absences.

Bułka saves, Guessand strikes

With two changes from the starting eleven that secured victory over Le Havre last Saturday, Issiaga Camara and Youssoufa Moukoko replaced Tanguy Ndombele and Gaëtan Laborde. Despite this, the Azuréens struggled faced with the aggression of their Belgian opponents, who are unbeaten in nine matches. Les Aiglons came close to an early lead when a poorly controlled back-pass by Charles Vanhoutte nearly troubled goalkeeper Anthony Moris (3’). However, the first half mostly saw Nice on the back foot.

Mohammed Fuseini missed an early chance, failing to beat Marcin Bułka after bursting past the defence (5’), before the Polish goalkeeper produced a crucial save to deny Sofiane Boufal (10’). Despite Bułka's heroics, Ivanovic capitalised on a rebound to pick up the opening goal (1-0, 33’).

Bułka continued to excel, denying Boufal again (39’), and his efforts paid off when Evann Guessand levelled the score just before half-time. Sofiane Diop intercepted the ball near the opponent's penalty area and delivered a precise cross, which Guessand finished clinically with a side-footed strike (1-1, 45+2’).

Le Gym eventually crumbled

In desperate need of a positive result following a poor Europa League campaign (3 losses, 2 draws prior to this match), Nice emerged with renewed vigour after the break. Issiaga Camara nearly turned the tide with a powerful attempt from outside the box, but the ball struck the crossbar and ricocheted off the line (57’).

Despite the arrival of Gaëtan Laborde and Tanguy Ndombele from the bench, as well as Jonathan Clauss's return, Le Gym struggled in the closing stages. Bułka and Louchet kept Nice alive with crucial saves against headers from Koki Machida and Christian Burgess (68’), while Ivanovic missed a one-on-one chance (70’). Bułka made another decisive stop to thwart Kevin Rodriguez (90’), but it was all undone in the final seconds. Franjo Ivanovic delivered a left-footed strike into the top corner in the last move of the match (2-1, 90+2’).

Following this bitter loss, OGC Nice remain 35th out of 36 in the Europa League standings. Although not mathematically eliminated, Le Gym face an uphill battle to break into the top 24 and qualify for the play-offs, with two matches remaining in January 2025.

Hugo Rondet