Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Matchday 5, 20/09/26

OGC Nice earned their first win of the season and their first league win at home in almost 11 months as they dispatched a lethargic Lille OSC side (2-1), who lose for the first time in Ligue 1 under Davide Ancelotti.

It was all the way back on 29th October 2025 in this exact fixture that Nice got their last win at the Allianz Riviera in Ligue 1. The match versus Lille represented the penultimate opportunity to go a whole calendar year winless at home. Djibril Coulibaly almost gave the hosts the lead. He hit the side netting after wriggling his way into the box, and Elye Wahi twice worked a one-on-one with Berke Ozer, twice struck straight at the Lille keeper, and twice saw the offside flag raised immediately after.

But despite Basar Onal forcing a save from Yehvann Diouf, Nice were far the more dangerous and were rewarded when Mohamed Amoura was played down the side of the LOSC defence by Niels Nkounkou. He tried to find Wahi in the middle but his ball across was deflected by Nathan Ngoy and past Ozer from a tight angle. You couldn’t tell that this was a struggling Nice side rooted to the bottom of the table, nor that this was a Lille side that approached this gameweek top of the league and unbeaten.

Le Gym continued to work openings. Axel Witsel blasted over unmarked in the box from a cutback and the acres in behind Tiago Santos continued to be exploited by Amoura, who this time could find Wahi in the box, only for the Ivorian to clip the outside of the box with his first-time effort. LOSC built some momentum towards the end of the half, Ayase Ueda testing Diouf from close-range with Nice’s defenders scrambling and Ethan Mbappé forcing the Senegalese goalkeeper to tip over his free-kick from a tight angle.

Ueda then got in between Youssouf Ndayishimiye and Mohamed Abdelmonem to work Diouf again, but as was the case in the first half, there were spaces left all over the pitch for Nice to exploit. On one such occasion, Wahi failed to control, having been played through by Hein and the former FC Metz captain was then at fault as another promising transition – a three-on-two – yielded a tepid shot from Hein.

Hein’s output was varied throughout, and whilst he wasted two promising openings, he did play in Wahi, who opted to chip Ozer, who simply remained upright to make the simple save. Hein then found Amoura seconds later, and he succeeded where Wahi failed, rounding Ozer and doubling Nice’s advantage. The Algerian was forced off with an injury (or cramp) soon after.

In the meantime, Olivier Giroud had been brought on. Ueda wasn’t the man to give way, however, and Ancelotti’s choice to keep him on was justified when he drifted beyond the Nice defence and slid the ball beyond Diouf. He almost doubled his tally, but Diouf got down brilliantly to save the Japan international’s header. That save proved decisive as Le Gym held off.