Christophe Galtier enjoyed a winning return to his former club on Saturday as OGC Nice claimed a remarkable 4-0 victory over champions Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
LOSC Lille 0-4 OGC Nice
THE MATCH
The fixture computer was being a devil by programming this game for the second weekend of the season, ensuring an early return to Lille for Galtier after he swapped the champions for the Côte d’Azur during the summer. Galtier led Lille to a famous title triumph in May but then ended his three-and-a-half-year spell in the far north to join Les Aiglons, where ambitions are sky-high under owners Ineos.
Nice started the season with an underwhelming 0-0 draw against Stade de Reims last weekend but here they handed a first start of the campaign to Kasper Dolberg and the Dane rewarded his manager by scoring twice as his club claimed their biggest margin of victory in the league since September 2017.
Lightning start
Dolberg needed just 55 seconds to put Nice ahead, popping up to convert the rebound after Léo Jardim had tipped Jean-Clair Todibo’s shot onto the woodwork. And Nice doubled their lead in the fifth minute as Amine Gouiri stole the ball from Zeki Čelik’s toes on the edge of the box and laid it off to Hicham Boudaoui, who fired home.
Jocelyn Gourvennec’s Lille were stunned and things got worse for them as they conceded a third goal in first-half stoppage time. Dolberg saw his header hit the bar and then, as the ball came back down, Benjamin André was guilty of a handball. The offence was only spotted by the referee after he reviewed the images, but he pointed to the spot and booked André for the offence. Gouiri stepped up to score the spot-kick (45+4’).
There was no fightback from a shell-shocked Lille after the break. Instead Dolberg headed in the fourth in the 64th minute after Dante had helped on a corner. There might even have been a fifth goal, but Gouiri’s strike was disallowed for an offside against Myziane Maolida in the build-up. LOSC were then denied a late consolation as Walter Benítez tipped Jonathan Bamba’s shot around the post, ensuring a clean sheet for Nice on a perfect afternoon for them and for Galtier.
THE PLAYER: Kasper Dolberg
The Danish striker struggled to produce his best form last season but there are big hopes in Nice that he can kick on now under Galtier. Following his late return for pre-season training after helping his country to the semi-finals of Euro 2020, Dolberg was only used as a substitute in the season-opening 0-0 draw with Reims. This time he started and he needed just 55 seconds to get the first of his two goals on the day. His first goal was the earliest by a Nice player in a Ligue 1 game since 2013, when Éric Bauthéac netted after only 32 seconds against Toulouse.
THE STAT: 200
This was Jocelyn Gourvennec’s 200th top-flight game as a coach. He will wish he could have marked the milestone in rather different fashion.
