Youcef Atal's second-half goal was enough for Nice to win 1-0 at Lens on Saturday and record only their second victory in 14 Ligue 1 Uber Eats matches.
THE MATCH
Lens had tallied 31 points from their opening 20 games of the campaign — their best total since finishing fifth in the 2006/07 season — and were fresh from their 1-0 win at Marseille on Wednesday. Nice made the long trip north winless in their last five, but had picked up nearly twice as many points away than at home this term.
An Atal shot brought a first save of the game from Jean-Louis Leca (12') before Walter Benitez grabbed Clément Michelin's close-range effort (28') and former Nice forward Ignatius Ganago flashed a header just over the crossbar (30') in a lively opening half-hour.
With Kasper Dolberg unable to find the space to hurt the hosts up front, Nice struggled to find a cutting edge in the first half, but the Denmark international made a decisive contribution early in the second.
The former Ajax man held the ball up before feeding Atal, who darted inside to fire a left-foot shot beyond Leca (49'). The Algeria international injured himself when scoring and so was barely able to celebrate his first top-flight goal of the season.
Robson Bambu breathed a sigh of relief as referee Hakim Ben El Hadj decided against awarding a Lens penalty for the Brazilian's tackle on Ganago after help from VAR (64'); Lens did the same when Amine Gouiri, who'd scored his first Nice goals in their win over Lens in Round 1, clipped a shot over the crossbar with only Leca to beat (71').
Lens nearly avoided a fourth home loss in seven matches at the Stade Bollaert, but Seko Fofana's long-range shot with virtually the final kick of the game was just kept out by Benitez (90+4') to give new Nice boss Adrian Ursea only his second win in nine league games in charge.
THE PLAYER: Youcef Atal
On a day when Nice's front line was not firing and they badly needed a boost, their flying Algerian full-back provided it. The Côte d'Azur outfit will be hoping his injury is not serious as they need him.
THE STAT: 41
It's the first time in 41 years — since the 1979/80 season — that Lens have lost both games against Nice in the same Ligue 1 season.
