Time to strike a blow. In bad shape and relegated to a provisionally eliminatory 31st place, OGC Nice returns to the Europa League against Glasgow Rangers, Thursday evening (9 p.m.) at the Allianz Riviera. The Aiglons must at all costs collect points and regain ground in the standings, to hope to continue their progress in the competition.
If Nice is undefeated in the league since mid-September (4 wins, 4 draws), the European Cup appears more severe with Franck Haise’s players. Failed by Real Sociedad (1-1) as well as by Twente (2-2) and beaten by Lazio (1-4) and Ferencvaros (0-1), the Nice are still waiting for their first success.
A defeat would not be an elimination for the club from the south of France, but it would still find itself in great difficulty in the event of a poor performance. It would then be necessary to achieve a flawless performance in the three remaining matches to achieve the 10 points supposedly necessary for qualification for the play-offs.
A diminished group
The Azuréens, in short, do not really have the right to make mistakes, and the task will not be easy against the Scots, tenth, who have only lost to Olympique Lyonnais in the competition (1- 4). Especially since Franck Haise will have to do without Terem Moffi, Morgan Sanson, Antoine Mendy, Jonathan Clauss and Ali Abdi, injured, and could also be deprived of his other executives Mohamed Abdelmonem, Dante and Youssouf Ndayishimiye. Sofiane Diop and Moïse Bombito are, for their part, suspended for the match.
Facing Nice are Glasgow Rangers in poor form. If they perform well on the European scene, the Gers occupy a disappointing third place in the Scottish championship, 11 points behind Celtic, leader, and nine behind their runner-up, Aberdeen. Their coach Philippe Clément knows Nice well, whom he faced three times when he was on the Monaco bench (2 wins, 1 loss). But the Belgian also remains with two heavy defeats against RC Lens of Franck Haise, who joined Nice this summer (3-0, 1-4).
