During their first match of pre-season, the Niçois dominated PSV Eindhoven on Sunday (3-2), putting in an impressive performance to boot.

The features

More advanced in their summer preparation (given that they will play in the Second Round Qualifiers of the Champions League on 23 and 30 July against FC Basel), the Dutch side attacked the game on the front foot. Strong in the battle, at times too much so, Mark Van Bommel’s side deservedly took the lead in the 11th minute through a Lammers strike which found the back of Clémentia’s net (1-0).

But Les Aiglons, who only returned to training last Monday, progressively got into gear. After being dominated at the start of the game, they used counters to turn the game on its head, and succeeded in the 37th minute. Lees-Melou played a delightful ball in behind the PSV defence, and Sacko made the most of it to bury into the net (1-1).

Much more directly, although just as impressively done, Boscagli played Saint-Maximin in deep. With an excellent piece of skill, followed by a smart strike with the outside of the boot, the forward allowed Le Gym to take the lead before the break. 

Despite the five changes made by Patrick Vieira at the break (see below), Le Gym didn’t ease off the gas. Les Niçois - who were wearing their grey shirt - increased their lead from a corner. With Boscagli sending in an inch-perfect cross, Coly‘s effort left Zoet with no chance (3-1, 62’).

Equally balanced, the last half an hour came to a close with a final goal for PSV, just before the final whistle (3-2, 92’).

After a well-deserved rest day, Les Rouge et Noir will return to training on Tuesday in Divonne. They will finish their trip with a second test, on Saturday against the Swiss side, FC Thoune (at 5pm).

Coach Vieira’s choices

For this first match of pre-season, Patrick Vieira decided to give Yannis Clémentia his chance in goal, behind a defence made up of Andy Pelmard on the right, Ibrahim Cissé and Olivier Boscagli through the middle, and  Racine Coly on the left. In the middle of a 4-3-3, was a trio of Pierre Lees-Melou, Adrien Tameze and Rémi Walter. Ignatius Ganago, Ihsan Sacko and Allan Saint-Maximin made up the attacking trio.

The Nice coach left out several members of the squad who were present at the ground. Benitez, Boulhendi, Lloris, Dante, Hérelle, Burner, Cyprien, Lusamba and Thuram didn’t feature in the matchday squad. 

At the break, the coach sent on Cardinale, Perraud, Danilo, Brazão, and Le Bihan, to replace Clémentia, Cissé, Walter, Saint-Maximin and Ganago. Sylvestre, Wade, Gameiro and Myziane also made appearances during the final half an hour of the game.  

@ Vevey, F.H.

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