Kasper Schmeichel made his Ligue 1 Uber Eats debut for Nice as the former Leicester City goalkeeper helped his new side to a point with a 1-1 draw at home to Strasbourg on Sunday.
THE MATCH
With Marcin Bulka injured, coach Lucien Favre had an easy decision to make in handing the hugely experienced Denmark international, who watched last weekend's 1-1 draw at Toulouse from the bench, his debut for his new club.
It was his Strasbourg counterpart Matz Sels who caught the eye first though, turning aside a Khephren Thuram shot (10') before Schmeichel made his first save in French football: Kévin Gameiro was played in neatly by Jean-Eudes Ahoulou, but the Nice goalkeeper quickly closed down the angle to block (15').
Nice had won five of their last seven home games, losing just once, but they were on the back foot for much of the 90 minutes against a Strasbourg side clearly intent on making up for their 2-1 home loss to their hosts' Côte d'Azur neighbours, Monaco, in Round 1.
Schmeichel brilliantly kept out Alexander Djiku's close-range volley (23') before Nice went ahead against the run of play. Gerzino Nyamsi brought down Amine Gouiri and Andy Delort drilled in the spot-kick to open his account for the 2022/23 campaign (35').
Sels then pushed out a Calvin Stengs effort (42') before Strasbourg reversed the momentum of the game after the break — Schmeichel once again coming to the rescue to keep out Habib Diallo's shot (47').
He could do nothing, however, as Strasbourg, who had won 3-0 in Nice last season, got the equaliser they deserved. Adrien Thomasson's through ball was perfect for Gameiro, who held off Jordan Lotomba and chipped the advancing Schmeichel (56').
The arrival of Aaron Ramsey, who got Nice's equaliser on his debut after coming off the bench last weekend, might have earned the hosts a win after he teed up Youcef Atal, but the Algeria international's shot was parried by Sels (84') to earn Julien Stéphan's men a deserved point.
THE PLAYER: Kasper Schmeichel
After 11 years and nearly 300 Premier League appearances for Leicester, the new Nice goalkeeper was expected to make an impact. He certainly did that in his first 90 minutes, making some big saves to prevent his club's first match of the season at the Allianz Riviera falling flat.
THE STAT: 2
Nice have won just two of their last 10 Ligue 1 Uber Eats matches against Strasbourg.
Earlier on Sunday, Clermont bounced back from their opening game defeat in style as they won 4-2 at Reims with Komnen Andric scoring twice to get his first goals for his new club. Pascal Gastien's side showed tremendous resilience after being 2-0 down at the break in Champagne country and fully exploited the extra man they enjoyed for nearly the whole of the second half following Emmanuel Agbadou's red card (47'). Auxerre were left kicking themselves as they surrendered the 2-0 lead they had built early in their first home game in the top flight in a decade with Angers coming back to earn a point in the 599th Ligue 1 Uber Eats game at the Stade de l'Abbé Deschamps.
Toulouse were impressive in their 1-1 home draw with Nice last Sunday, and seven days on, Philippe Montanier's men were so again as the Ligue 2 BKT champions secured the first league win of their top-flight return. Ajaccio's first top-flight match at home in eight years ended in a point as they held Lens to a goalless draw in front of a sell-out crowd at the Stade François Coty to open their account for the 2022/23 campaign.
