The TFC, which had chained 17 defeats and a draw before descending to L2 in the spring of 2020, has therefore still not won a single match in the elite since October 19, 2019, at home against Lille (2-1) .
For his return to the Nice bench four years after leaving him, Lucien Favre for his part had confirmation that his team, dominated in the first act, was not quite ready yet.
Without their two star recruits, Danish international goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey, substitutes at kick-off, the Nice people struggled to exist offensively in the first period.
Landed this summer from Excelsior Rotterdam, where he accumulated the title of top scorer (36) and best player in Dutch D2, the neo-Toulouse Thijs Dallinga (22) only took him 20 minutes to get adopted by his new supporters (1-0, 20th).
One hundred and twenty seconds after finding the post, he was indeed perfectly placed to convert the first offering of the season from Branco Van den Boomen, the key man of the previous exercise with his 21 assists (and 12 goals).
Ten days before their European play-off in the Conference League, the Azureans reacted in the second period, after several changes from their coach.
However, it was not until the last quarter of an hour and the providential return of Aaron Ramsey for the Niçois to equalise.
Perfectly served in the axis of the surface, the former Juventus player then offered a welcome point to his team (1-1, 78th).
© 2022 AFP