Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Matchday 22, 15/02/26
OGC Nice were valiant losers and were arguably the better team for the first hour. But Olympique Lyonnais were clinical when they had their chance, to secure their 13th straight win in all competitions.Lyon welcomed back captain Corentin Tolisso as they welcomed Nice, coached by former boss Claude Puel. However, they missed star loanee Endrick, serving a one-match suspension, in a first half short on chances by dominated for the most part by the visiting Aiglons. Recovering from the blow of losing Elye Wahi to a foot injury within the first five minutes, Nice put together all of the coherent moves of the first 45 minutes, forcing Dominik Greif into three good saves, while Mohamed-Ali Cho and Wahi’s replacement Kaïl Boudache should have done better with close-range chances.
Nice were made to pay in first-half injury time when their latest attack broke down and Lyon quickly countered. The ball was moved to Abner Vinicius, who crossed from the left and a glancing Pavel Šulc touch gave Tolisso the chance to slot home at the far post.
Nice began the second half with the same attacking intent and Greif was forced into another save before Boudache went down in the area. The referee judged that he had simply been out-muscled and Lyon immediately pushed forward. Šulc turned beautifully, powered down the wing, Charles Vanhoutte failed to clear and Noah Nartey body-swerved brilliantly to buy himself the space to power home.
From then on, Lyon hogged possession and saw the game out to move five points clear of Marseille and within six of Paris Saint-Germain.
Dominik Greif – 7
While none of them needed to be spectacular, Greif made a string of solid saves in the first half and early in the second to keep Lyon on level terms.
Clinton Mata – 5
Moussa Niakhaté – 6
The pick of Lyon’s defenders, making important interventions to cut out dangerous Nice attacks and marshalling his fellow defenders well.
Hans Hateboer – 5
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 4
Often found space in the first half to serve as a useful out-ball – but then wasted the possession that he was given. Nice’s better attacks came from his flank.
Tanner Tessmann – 6
Tidy display in midfield and fine when making short passes sideways but his longer ball needs to be far more accurate. Played a part in Lyon’s breakaway opener.
Tyler Morton – 5
Not the Englishman’s best match for les Gônes but grew into the game and was at his best helping Lyon to retain possession to see the game out.
Abner Vinicius – 6
Solid going forward and in defence and put in the cross for Lyon’s opener.
Noah Nartey – 6
Always available for the ball but shorn of chances – until the half-chance just over the hour mark, which he capitalised on brilliantly to put Lyon out of sight.
Corentin Tolisso – 6
A perfect return from injury for Lyon’s captain, who scored their underserved equaliser, setting them on the way to victory.
Pavel Šulc – 7
No goals this week but was the one player likely to provide a spark in Endrick’s absence – and so it proved, playing a crucial part on both goals.
Maxime Dupé – 5
Unfortunate – had very little to do, but he did it all well and had no chance with either goal.
Jonathan Clauss – 5
The life of a wing-back – dangerous going forward and, when in position, did well defensively. But Lyon exploited the gaps that he left when he attacked.
Kojo Peprah Oppong – 5
Dante – 5
Ali Abdi – 4
Morgan Sanson – 5
Charles Vanhoutte – 3
Should have cleared the Šulc cross which instead fell to Nartey for Lyon’s killer blow.
Mohamed-Ali Cho – 5
Moved into the centre after Wahi’s early injury and was involved in much of Nice’s best work, but gradually faded.
Sofiane Diop – 6
Similar to Cho – lots of good movement and touches but eventually ran out of ideas.
Tom Louchet – 6
Some dangerous crosses and clever round-the-corner passes, forced a Greif save early in the second half.
Elye Wahi – N/A
Kaïl Boudache – 3
Maybe unfair to judge him too harshly after being thrown in after five minutes, but he missed a couple of very good chances, went down too easily on more than one occasion and provided insufficient cover for Clauss.
