Ambitious OGC Nice face reigning Ligue 1 Uber Eats champions Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday in what will be a litmus test of just how far the Côte d'Azur side have come…and still have to go.
ligue1.com looks at how the two sides match up.
GOALKEEPERS
Walter Benitez is undeniably the in-form goalkeeper of the French top flight right now. The fact he wears the number 40 shirt shows just how far down the pecking order he was when he joined Nice as a virtual unknown from Argentine side Quilmes in 2016. Regardless of his squad number, there is no doubt he's the club's undisputed number one now.
Benitez, now 27, is following on from what he did last season when his coach, Patrick Vieira, declared, "He deserves to be called up by the national team" after seeing the Argentine keep Lyon at bay as Nice registered a 1-0 win over OL in February.
WATCH: Walter Benitez is brilliant but Nice slip to defeat at Montpellier
Benitez was also brilliant in Nice's defeat to Montpellier where the scoreline would have been a lot heavier than 3-1 but for Les Aiglons' goalkeeper. There was also a quality goalkeeping performance, but from Olympique de Marseille's Steve Mandanda as OM beat PSG last weekend in a hot-tempered Classique.
Marcin Bulka, whose error gifted RC Lens victory in the champions' opening game of the season, and Sergio Rico, who had little to do but pick the ball out his net against OM, have kept goal for PSG this season with Keylor Navas absent following a positive COVID-19 test.
While Rico — a multiple UEFA Europa League winner with former club Sevilla — is an excellent back-up option, as he showed in the UEFA Champions League semi-final, Navas remains on another level to any goalkeeper in Ligue 1 not only in terms of ability but also aura. The Costa Rican's return for the win over Metz on Wednesday — PSG's first of the new season — was more than welcome.
DEFENCE
Thomas Tuchel and Vieira have the same tactical approach to their back lines, adopting a flat back four.
While PSG's front line understandably gets a lot of headlines, the defence was impressive last season under Tuchel. They boasted the joint-second-best record in Ligue 1 Uber Eats and conceded six goals in 11 UEFA Champions League matches last term.
The question for Tuchel in 2020/21 is how to replace Thiago Silva, who was magnificent in PSG's European run. The German coach has options. With Alessandro Florenzi's arrival, Thilo Kehrer can step across from right-back to partner Presnel Kimpembe or Abdou Diallo, though the latter is suspended for Sunday's game. Marquinhos, who had also been sidelined by a positive COVID-19 test until the Metz game, is also an option, but Tuchel prefers the Brazil international in a defensive midfield position.
WATCH: PSG's bad-tempered Classique defeat to Marseille
Florenzi's debut against OM was promising, despite his team's defeat, and the Italy international is eligible to play after missing out against Metz as he had not been signed when the Round 1 fixture had initially been scheduled. Juan Bernat has already proven his worth at left-back at both ends of the pitch, though his knee injury against Metz is a major blow while Layvin Kurzawa will serve only the second match of his six-game ban in Round 4. Young Dutch left-back Mitchel Bakker has, however, suggested he can provide more than adequate cover to give PSG a high-quality, solid rearguard that should prove tough for Nice to break down.
Vieira switched to a back three in the closing games last season as a consequence of — as you might expect — his side conceding too many goals. Last season, they let in 38 in their 28 matches — only Côte d'Azur rivals AS Monaco had a worse defensive record outside the bottom four.
The former Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City midfielder has helped the club widen his defensive options over the summer. Swiss right-back Jordan Lotomba has immediately slotted in with another new arrival, ex-Stade de Reims man Hassane Kamara, filling the role on the left that Nice had struggled to find a solution for since Dalbert's departure for Inter Milan in 2017.
Flavius Daniliuc, once of Real Madrid and signed from Bayern Munich, and Robson Bambu are two young centre-backs under the tutelage of Dante. They have kept one clean sheet this season and — though they were outgunned at Montpellier — will surely enjoy a better campaign than last. Whether they can keep PSG out, however, remains to be seen.
ATTACK
Neymar's suspension is offset by the return of Kylian Mbappé following the positive COVID-19 test that cut short his international duties with France and forced him to miss both the Classique and the Metz game, though it is not entirely certain Mbappé can play with currently French government guidelines needing to be relaxed slightly to allow the former AS Monaco striker - and subsequently others in the same situation - to play.
PSG clearly need their FIFA World Cup-winning phenomenon as Julian Draxler's 93rd-minute winner against Metz is the only time they have hit the net in three league games to date — quite a come down from the 75 they hit in 28 games last season, a whopping 31 more than anyone else in the division.
The rash of COVID-19 positives decimated the front line for the opener against Lens leaving Pablo Sarabia alongside teenage debutants Arnaud Kalimuendo and Kays Ruiz-Atil, and it showed as the champions barely made an impression. Neymar and Di Maria had hardly trained when they faced Marseille, and the latter was significantly more threatening against Metz. With the Argentina international alongside Sarabia and Mbappé, the PSG attack would have teeth. If Mbappé misses out, there will be a lot less bite, though Mauro Icardi, who played on Wednesday, will surely relish the opportunity to not only boost his fitness but also prove the club were right to make his loan move from Inter Milan permanent over the summer.
Nice were also without one of their most impressive early season performers in Amine Gouiri in Montpellier after he came back from international duty with France's U21 squad nursing a back injury. He did come off the bench and provided the assist for his team's goal, however, to add to his brace on the opening day of the season.
Kasper Dolberg scored twice in the victory at Strasbourg that followed and though he was muzzled in Montpellier, the Denmark international has already proven himself a singular predator, but he will be missing against PSG following a positive COVID-19 test, meaning Myziane Maolida will likely play centrally. Rony Lopes will likely start with Alexis Claude-Maurice also sidelined by COVID-19, and their combined mobility and creativity will be a handful for the PSG defence as the game at the Allianz Riviera promises to be a 90-minute shootout.
COACHES
That could certainly be the case with Vieira and Tuchel in charge. Their playing careers differed wildly: Tuchel's was modest while Vieira's was glorious, but the duo share the same philosophy that sees their team on the front foot as often as possible.
Both like their side to dominate possession, which means the midfield battle will be key. Morgan Schneiderlin's big-game nous will be an asset to Nice, but with two of Ander Herrera, Marco Verratti and Idrissa Gueye playing alongside Marquinhos — or all three if the PSG captain features at centre-back as he did against Metz — PSG have the experience and the quality to trump their opposing numbers, most likely Khéphren Thuram and Pierre Lees-Melou.
The latter pair will have to work exceptionally hard in the defensive phases of the game to try and cut off as much of the supply as possible to PSG's front line. It is likely where the match will be won and lost.
>> ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: OGC Nice
