Nice 4-1 Olympique Lyonnais: OL Hammered By Rampant Underdogs

Loic Rémy (OGC Nice striker)

Going into Saturday evening’s Ligue 1 clash, few would have given Nice a sniff of success, but they ended up easy 4-1 winners over Olympique Lyonnais.

Still suffering a hangover from their victory over Liverpool in midweek, Lyon were never at their crispest and would suffer as les Aiglons broke with purpose and incision. Loic Remy would enjoy a brace of first half assists, setting up a goal for Mamadou Bagayoko and then inducing an error from Aly Cissokho.

Claude Puel’s visiting side would continue to dominate in the second half, but again they were caught-out, David Hellebuyck adding an embarrassing third. Things got even worse when Remy soon struck a fourth, consigning the team who were league leaders going into this weekend to an embarrassing loss. Even Ederson’s late goal did little to hide OL’s red faces.

Lyon would enjoy much of the first half play but their forward players certainly did not have their shooting boots on as they failed to test home custodian David Ospina over the course of the opening 45 minutes. Virtually the entire opening quarter of an hour would be bossed by the visiting side, but a tentative shot from Makoun aside, they were impotent.

Les Aiglons were somewhat more cutting going forward, with a free kick from Julien Sable repulsed by stand-in OL goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre in a somewhat unconvincing manner. On their first incisive move from open play, Nice took the lead.

Inevitably Loic Remy would be the architect of Lyon’s woe. The former OL youth caused carnage down the right hand side and centred for Bagayoko to head home. His effort deflected off Cris en route to the net, but that did not stop the home side erupting in joyous celebration.

Lisandro Lopez and Bafetimbi Gomis in the Lyon attack would see very little of the ball in the first half. Les Gones’ best chances came from set plays, with Miralem Pjanic’s corner thumped over the top by a header from Cris. Frustrated, Pjanic had a go from distance, but he couldn’t find the target.

The pain being suffered by the visitors would only increase before the break. Remy would again have a major part to play as he again caused real damage on the right hand side of the park. Though he could not pick out a team-mate on this occasion, he did find Cissokho, who involuntarily turned the ball into his own goal.

OL switched to a more aggressive formation after the half-time interval, withdrawing Cissokho and replacing him with Michel Bastos. However, Claude Puel’s tactical change only succeeded in winning the visiting side more of the ball. If anything, efforts towards goal from les Gones were even more infrequent, with their pressing game failing to reap rewards.

Nice were proving to be ruthlessly efficient in attack and would cut through the OL defence to add a third goal. Again it was a former Lyon youth, Anthony Mounier, who was the provider, sliding a pass to David Hellebuyck, who got the better of Jeremy Toulalan and then slide a shot by Vercoutre.

Sidney Govou mustered a serious response moments later for les Gones, but his effort onto the bar rather summed up his side’s evening.

Only as the crossbar had finished shaking on the Nice goal, the net would be bulging at the opposite end of the field. A long pass through the Lyon rearguard picked out Remy, who beat the advancing Vercoutre and slid the ball into an empty net.

Puel mixed and matched his side in the closing stages and two substitutes would combine to at least give Lyon a goal to cheer. Cesar Delgado, the hero of Liverpool, produced a low, hard cross for Ederson to steer home, though the strike was of little consolation.

Coming off such a high in midweek, Lyon produced an utterly abject display against a side they had the potential to dismantle with ease. To their credit, Nice, who have regularly been dispatched at home by mediocre opponents, excelled, with Remy outstanding. Les Aiglons will look to use such a remarkable victory as a staging post for future games.

Robin Bairner, Goal.com