European hopefuls Lille came inches away from taking an early lead via Timothy Weah following a counterattack, only to be denied by Kasper Schmeichel’s brilliant left-footed save. Les Aiglons were never going to be the ones to sit back, gliding into action as the minutes rolled on, with Gaëtan Laborde and Lille youth academy product Badredine Bouanani coming close with consecutive chances that went wide of the woodwork.
However, it was Les Dogues making all the noise at the other end. Winger Remy Cabella wasted two precious chances in quick succession, sending the first painfully wide of the left post, before forcing Schmeichel into a one-on-one save. The ex-Leicester City goalkeeper’s heroics proved instrumental, but Lille only had themselves to blame for conceding the opener in the 35th minute, after Laborde capitalised on a defensive lapse with a clinical finish following Bouanani’s selfless assist.
Despite Paul Fonseca adopting a possession-based offensive approach, Nice were left unbothered by the visitors for large parts of the game thereafter. Yet, forwards Jonathan David and Mohamed Bayo failed to test the home defence as they had done earlier. With only Paris Saint-Germain scoring more than their six goals in the final quarter-hour of Ligue 1 meetings, Lille had hopes of a comeback in the final minutes, but proved rather careless in the final third.
With much credit to their defensive prowess, Didier Digard’s men held strong to muster just a seventh win this season - the interim coach extending his unbeaten streak to three matches. Nice cut their gap with the afternoon’s visitors to just six points, whereas Lille’s wastefulness costs them the opportunity to climb the table in hopes of securing a European finish.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kasper Schmeichel (OGC Nice)