Pair of Milo Longhorned
Published 54 minutes ago, Updated now
Téji Savanier and the Montpellier residents are relaunching on the Côte d’Azur. VALERY HACHE / AFP
The bad patch continues for the Aiglons, beaten this Friday in Nice by the MHSC, at the opening of the 25th day.
Wake-up time for Nice? It’s no. The Aiglons went a sixth match without a win this Friday. Worse: they experienced defeat against Montpellier (1-2), at the opening of the 25th day of Ligue 1. After a crazy start to the match and two goals in two minutes, Jean-Clair Todibo against his side (10th) and Jeremy Boga (12th), Téji Savanier put the MHSC back in control from the penalty spot just before half-time. The winning goal for the Héraultais, in a play-off position before the match and who had only won one of their previous eight matches. President Nicollin’s players restart the machine and climb (provisionally?) to 12th place. The Niçois remain in fifth position before the rest of the day.
At the start of the match which struggled to get off the ground, the locals did not seem fully concentrated and this was evident from a corner. After a first poorly cleared corner kick, the Montpellier players struck another and… Jean-Clair Todibo missed his clearance. Marcin Bulka could do nothing (0-1, 9th). Aware that they had no room for error, the Aiglons reacted in the best possible way. On a long opening from Dante, Gaëtan Laborde took the time to adjust his cross towards Jérémie Boga who adjusted Lecomte at point blank range to put the two teams back on level terms (1-1, 11th). Behind the Niçois occupied half of the MHSC field but lacked precision in the last gesture and were unable to conclude this domination.
Nice breaks its teeth on the Hérault block
In one of the last actions of this first act, Whabi Kahzri was found in the area. The Tunisian international looked for his partners behind but his delivery was deflected by Laborde’s hand. At first not reported, this fault was finally reviewed by the referee on a call from the VAR, and whistled. The Montpellier captain, Teji Savanier, was quick to deceive the Aiglons goalkeeper and put the visitors back in the lead just before the break (1-2, 43rd).
Upon returning from the locker room, the Gym players tried to immediately put pressure on Benjamin Lecomte’s cages. But well supported by his defensive block, the Montpellier goalkeeper proved insurmountable. Coming to bring back as many points as possible, Michel Der Zakarian’s men were going to play in a low block during this second half and their attacks therefore came down to the dazzling attacks of the attackers. Very quickly, the experienced Khazri-Savanier duo showed that they had young legs.
Launched into the area, the Tunisian eliminated a first defender before crossing towards his captain at five meters. Teji Savanier already saw himself scoring his double and putting the Niçois in crisis after returning from the locker room, but that was without counting on the return of Kephren Thuram. The young Frenchman threw himself right in front of the opposing captain to push the ball for a corner, a very classy return. Behind, despite the changes made by Francesco Farioli, the Aiglons were losing their teeth on the Montpellier block. Evann Guessand managed to cause imbalances but lacked precision in the last movement. With a very solid defense, the Paillade players resisted to snatch three more than precious points at the end of the season (1-2 final score).
