runner-up to PSG and best defense in the championship, OGC Nice sinks on the Le Havre lawn

Beaten for the first time this season two weeks ago, OGC Nice was soundly defeated by promoted Le Havre on Saturday (3-1). So far impeccable this season, the Aiglons’ defense has foundered.

The dam burst. Impervious since the start of the season, the Nice defense conceded in one match, Saturday December 16 in Le Havre (3-1), the equivalent of half of the goals it had so far conceded in fifteen matches. Before this match on the pitch of the promoted team, which had not won for a month, the Aiglons had only conceded six goals. But the runner-up to Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 had already shown signs of weakness recently, with a first defeat in the league, on December 2, at Nantes (0-1).

During this defeat against the Canaries, the defense of Italian coach Francesco Farioli did not collapse. In Le Havre, she will be able to blame herself for having been grossly at fault on two goals. The first, scored by Emmanuel Sabbi (5th), came from an error by Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, so far impeccable this season. Mohamed Bayo scored Le Havre’s third goal from a penalty (51st), after a foul by Melvin Bard in his area. In the meantime, Sabbi had achieved the double with a nice strike, still taking advantage of very lax marking from Jordan Lotomba (35th).

Todibo expelled after an altercation

Nice had only conceded two goals once this season, during their success on the PSG pitch in September (3-2). The Aiglons thus conceded three goals for the first time since August 2022 against Olympique de Marseille (3-0). Since the start of the season, Nice has counted on this defense to win despite a sluggish attack (only 16 goals scored, the 12th in Ligue 1). The Nice offensive players were not much more dangerous today, despite the reduction in the score at the very end of the match by Tom Louchet (90th + 1).

A few minutes earlier, the Nice defense had completed its failed match in a big way, with the expulsion of French international Jean-Clair Todibo (2 caps). The latter received a red card after an altercation with Le Havre Samuel Grandsir, also excluded. Leader of the Nice defense with the veteran Dante (40 years old), Todibo will therefore be suspended on Wednesday, for the shock and last match of the year for the Aiglons, against Lens.

“It’s a match to forget, even if we will learn from it“, reacted Niçois Jérémie Boga on Prime Video after the match. At the end of this 17th day, Nice will retain its second place, because AS Monaco, third, lost on Friday against Lyon (1- 0). But the Niçois are losing ground on the Parisian leader. Before their match in Lille on Sunday evening, PSG is guaranteed to be crowned autumn champion at mid-season.