Between disappointing results and incidents in the gallery, the Riviera Club, which must face PSG, Saturday October 1, experiences a start for the start of the 2022-2023 delicate exercise.
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Christophe Galtier started from the OGC Nice at the beginning of the summer without a goodbye for his players. Three months later, the new Paris-Saint-Germain coach will find his former club. Before challenging PSG, leader of the French championship, Saturday 1 er October, at the Parc des Princes, the Riviera Club only has eight points in as many days. A first disappointing assessment for Aiglons which aims to settle durably On the podium of Ligue 1.
In 2019, the OGC Nice had been bought by the British Jim Ratcliffe, at the head of Ineos, a British group specializing in chemicals, located at the highest level in sport (cycling, formula 1, sail, etc.). Two years later, the billionaire’s project took thickness on the French Riviera: in the wake of a title of L1 champion won with Lille, who had hoisted him to the rank of the most courted French coach , Christophe Galtier refused the advances of Olympique Lyonnais to join the Nice club.
The season that followed had started well, but had ended badly (fifth place in the ranking while the club was on the podium in mid-term, without counting a defeat in the final of the Coupe de France) in A conflicting atmosphere between the coach and the director of football, Julien Fournier. In the summer of 2022, Mr. Ratcliffe decided to start a new era. Mr. Fournier in fact the price while Mr. Galtier, already gone to PSG, is replaced on the bench of the Aiglons by the Swiss Lucien Favre.
This experienced coach at European level (passed by Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany) had left good memory of his first passage on the Côte d’Azur between 2016 and 2018, as much in terms of the game as Results (a third place in the championship at the end of the 2016-2017 season).
But, according to nice-matin and L’Equipe , the poor results at the start of his second term would have already weakened Lucien Favre in the eyes of management, the press even evoking the name of the Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino as possible successor. “We are not going to change our coach after eight days,” replied the club president, Jean-Pierre Rivère.
at the transfer window, “last minute purchases”
During the summer period of transfers, promising young players signed in Nice – the Italian defender Mattia Viti, the French midfielder Sofiane Diop or the Polish goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, whose purchase option was lifted With PSG -, not to mention the striker Gaëtan Laborde (15 goals scored in L1 in 2021-2022), who endorsed the red and black jersey as part of an exchange with Rennes including Amine Gouiri.
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