A Mario Balotelli brace inspired OGC Nice to a shocking 4-0 annihilation of defending champions, AS Monaco, who saw their perfect start to the season come to an end at the Allianz Riviera.
Nice had only picked three points all season, having one just one of their four matches prior to Saturday’s home game.
However, the Les Aiglons got off to a flying start when their Italian star, Balotelli gave them a shock lead on the 6th minute, as he converted from the spot after the referee have a penalty following a foul on him in the Monaco box by Sidibe.
Alassane Plea doubled their advantage on the 18th minute to send the home fans into a frenzy, after latching onto a pass from former Monaco player, Allan Saint-Maximin, before letting fly past Subasic in the Monaco goal.
Nice went into the break with a 2-0 advantage and continued from where they stopped after the break, as Monaco seemed to lack ideas.
On the hour mark, it got even worse for the visitors as Balotelli made it 3-0, after meeting a low cross from Souquet before finishing from close range.
Despite Leonardo Jardim’s best attempts to salvage something from the match, after sending Stefan Jovetic on for his debut, his side failed to create anything worthy of note.
Instead, it was the home side who scored again, as youngster, Ignatius Knepe Ganago sealed the win with Nice’s fourth goal, after calmly slotting home from a superb pass over the Monaco defense by Lees-Melou to hand Lucien Favre’s side a rather unexpected but deserved win, their second of the season.
17 – @FinallyMario has scored 17 goals in only 21 starts since his debut with @ogcnice in Ligue 1. Machine. pic.twitter.com/Ft4vsCpWkT
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 9, 2017
“We played as a team” manager, Lucien Favre said after the match . “Everybody tracked back. If a player is out of his zone, it puts the team’s balance in danger. Today, everybody defended well, closed down the angles.
“It was important to put in a good performance. And it secured 3 points for us, and an improved goal difference with 4 goals.
“We needed to perform well, the result, you can never be sure. Sometimes you don’t win when you play well. This evening, we were effective. We played well, as a team. We were very solid defensively.”
Up next for Favre and his team in the Ligue 1 is a trip to Roazhon Park to tackle Rennes.
Photo credit: @OGCNICE
