Saint-Etienne (AFP)

Nice gained confidence before tackling the Europa League by winning in Saint-Etienne (3-1), Sunday at the end of a match of the 7th day of Ligue 1 where the Aiglons controlled in the first period and then resisted in seconds.

The horizon appears clear for the Nice before their trip Thursday on the lawn of the German club Bayer Leverkusen for the first day of the group stage of C3.

They are unbeaten in their last three outings with a second consecutive victory after that obtained against Nantes on October 3 (2-1) and a draw in Bordeaux (0-0).

It is also their second away success this season after that recorded in Strasbourg (2-0) for the second day.

Nice is thus placed 5th in the standings tied with Lens (4th), opposed Sunday evening (9:00 p.m.) to Lille (3rd) in the derby.

Pierre Lees-Melou quickly showed the way for the Azuréens by opening the scoring after taking advantage of a poor intervention by goalkeeper Jessy Moulin (8th).

The latter was also involved in the second goal of the Aiglons after a disagreement with his defender Saidou Sow who took advantage of Amine Gouiri to bring the score to 2-0 (30th).

- The Greens fall into line -

But the Forézien goalkeeper was decisive with two back-to-back saves on attempts by Gouiri, the header, and Lees-Melou (21st) confirming the control of Nice over the first period before a more difficult second faced with the reaction of the Greens.

Moulin also intervened well against Gouiri at the start of the second half (48th).

For their part, the Greens, handicapped by several absences, fall into line (10th), without a win for four days (a draw, three defeats) when they had won their first three matches.

Worse still, the defense conceded ten goals in this negative series while the attack was timid except on a good shot from Zaydou Youssouf repelled by Walter Benitez (11th) who also deflected a good free kick from Romain Hamouma (69th) .

Benitez, on the other hand, is guilty of a bad recovery on the Saint-Etienne goal scored by Adil Aouchiche served by Romain Hamouma (2-1, 57th).

This action rewarded the best second period of the Stéphanois, who pushed in vain before conceding the third Nice goal signed Myziane Maolida who took over a missed shot from Dan Ndoye (90th + 1).

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