Under tension since the outbreak of the “Galtier affair”, Nice, which faces Basel on Thursday in the quarter-final second leg of the Europa League Conference, hopes to continue its adventure and offer itself an exhilarating end to the season, likely to save the crucial 5th place of France in the UEFA index. The last tricolor representative in continental competitions will have a heavy burden on their shoulders at the Allianz Riviera. And his coach Didier Digard admitted to playing the season at double or quits on this match.
Again behind in Ligue 1 after four points taken from the last six matches (four draws and two defeats), the Aiglons have, in fact, nothing much else to play for and are logically betting everything on the C4 after the draw from Switzerland (2-2).
Galtier, “no longer a subject”?
Failing to qualify for the semi-finals, Nice, 9th in Ligue 1, would then risk only making the news through the “Galtier affair” which, if it “is no longer a subject of discussion in the locker room”, “takes up space and light”, according to Digard. A preliminary investigation has indeed been opened by the Nice prosecutor’s office for suspicion of “discrimination based on an alleged race or belonging to a religion” after the revelation by the independent journalist Romain Molina then RMC of an email, that the AFP could not authenticate the former director of OGC Nice Julien Fournier accusing the club’s ex-coach Christophe Galtier of racist remarks.
So that the end of the season does not look like a slow agony, it is therefore better that there remains a sporting interest… This is also historic for Nice, which has never participated in a last European four. In Switzerland, more than 1,800 Nice had supported theirs last week. This time, they will be 30,000 to push behind Terem Moffi, double top-flight scorer in the first leg, and his friends Rouge et Noir.
epics
The 1,500 fans of the Swiss team will not be present: the Ministry of the Interior has banned their trip to Nice for fear of clashes between supporters of the two teams whose “relationships are imbued with animosity”, according to Place Beauvau. A prefectural decree had previously prohibited Swiss supporters from going to town, forcing them to confine themselves to a sort of “fan zone”.
Despite this travel ban, sources close to the Swiss club reported on Wednesday the desire of 700 ultras to reach the Côte d’Azur by bus. Nice will in any case vibrate while lovers of the ‘Gym’ have not experienced such an epic for more than 60 years. It was in 1957 and in 1960, in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, each time against the great Real Madrid (two defeats 0-3, 2-3 in 57, a 3-2 victory in Nice then a setback 4-0 in 60).
Admittedly, today, Dante and his family only play in the Europa League Conference. But the fact of being the last French representative in Europe enhances their career. And a qualification could highlight, at least for a moment, the sporting side of a club which is beginning to be eaten away by the “Galtier affair”. The stakes are also high for French football, which is struggling to save its 5th place in the UEFA index, threatened by the Netherlands. From the ability of the Nice to pursue their European dream will arise or not the possibility of seeing three French clubs directly qualified for the Champions League, and a fourth in the preliminary round, during the 2024/25 season.