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Paris Saint-Germain relinquished their place at the summit of Ligue 1 as they were unable to find a way past OGC Nice in a 1-1 draw which kept Les Aiglons’ unbeaten home record this season going strong. The two sides’ contrasting starts to the Ligue 1 season were hardly evident in the opening stages, as Franck Haise’s struggling side started distinctly on the front foot.
Evann Guessand pulled his shot wide of the left post before the dangerous Mohamed-Ali Cho saw his close-range header turned away brilliantly by Gianluigi Donnarumma. PSG’s own unbeaten league record speaks for itself, however, and Ligue 1’s top marksman Bradley Barcola was sent away by Ousmane Dembele, but his weak effort gave Moise Bombito enough time to clear away and deny him a seventh strike in as many matches.
Having missed their chance to net an early opener, Nice were faced with withstanding the might of Luis Enrique’s attacking corps, but they did so admirably, even if Marcin Bulka was required to be on top form to deny a thunderous volley from Nuno Mendes. The hosts used that stop as a springboard to mount a rally of their own at the end of the half, and they were handsomely rewarded as Ali Abdi sent a cleared corner back into the area, where it ricocheted off Mendes and bobbled past the wrong-footed Donnarumma.
Mendes had been in the thick of the action in the first half, and it took him just a few minutes of the second to make his mark on the scoresheet. Always lingering on the edge of the area from set pieces, the left-back received it from Dembele and hit a low, right-footed drive beyond the reach of Bulka. That was followed up with Marquinhos beating Bombito to it to thump a header against the upright, before substitute Vitinha was unable to finish past a resolute Nice goalkeeper.
The pressure grew ever stronger on the home side as the match reached its late stages, but neither Bułka nor their defence were willing to allow them a late winner. As a result, Nice still find themselves clinging onto a top-half spot despite only being victorious in two of their seven league matches this season, while PSG remain undefeated but drop behind AS Monaco, who were victorious at Stade Rennais on Saturday.
