PLAYER RATINGS | OGC Nice 0-1 Braga: sixth-consecutive defeat sees Nice crash out of Europa League | OneFootball

UEFA Europa League, Matchday 6, 11/12/25

With two games remaining, OGC Nice’s UEFA Europa League journey is over before it even started. A 1-0 defeat at home to Braga was their sixth in succession in the competition.

The Match

The Allianz Riviera almost rang hollow, with a smattering of boos from the home end and cheers from the travelling Braga supporters as the players emerged from the tunnel, greeted by a crowd of fewer than 4,000. It wasn’t an atmosphere worthy of a European tie, but then again, you can argue that Nice aren’t a team worthy of this competition this season. Le Gym came into this one having lost all of their previous five games; only a win would mathematically keep their hopes of progression alive. 

But Nice were a team that looked to have already accepted their fate. It was Braga who had all of the chances in the first half. Ricardo Horta saw a goal-bound effort deflected wide by Kojo Peprah Oppong; Maxime Dupé, in for first-choice goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf, then made a strong save from an Amine El Ouazzani; and it was El Ouazzani who had another good chance four minutes later, as he was allowed to touch, swivel, and fire an effort just inches wide. 

The Portuguese side had been knocking on the door, and it was Pau Victor who broke it down. Braga capitalised on the upteenth Nice error, this one from Melvin Bard, whose misplaced pass found Jean-Baptiste Gorby. Two easy passes later and the unmarked Pau Victor was on hand to hit home.

A reaction? Not from this Nice side, not this season. “As soon as there is a gust of wind, everything falls over,” Franck Haise said earlier this season; it is a statement that rings true time and time again, including tonight.

Vitor Carvalho’s long-range effort flew just wide of Dupé’s goal, and the Nice shotstopper was forced into action seconds later by El Ouazzani. Kevin Carlos was one of the few Nice players able to make his presence felt at all. He almost got on the end of a Tom Louchet cross to poke home an equaliser, and on the hour mark, his work down the left teed up an Isak Jansson shot, saved by the feet of Lukas Hornicek.

There wasn’t a lack of effort from Carlos (the same can’t necessarily be said of some of his teammates), but there was a lack of quality. That was most evident when, unmarked at the back post, he headed over from a corner. And then again, when he couldn’t control a Jansson pass that would have put him through.

Quality eluded Mohamed-Ali Cho, too, at a crucial moment, as he failed to control a Melvin Bard cross-field pass, which looked to have created a one-on-one opportunity. Braga’s lack of ambition prevented them from making the break, but it never felt that they would be punished, even if the half-chances stacked up for Nice.

24% possession, a 1-0 defeat in front of a meagre crowd: a sad way for Nice to crash out of the Europa League, but one perfectly in fitting with their season.

OGC Nice player ratings

Maxime Dupé – 5

Ali Abdi – 2

Melvin Bard – 2

Bard took the blame for the defeat against SC Freiburg last month after two errors cost two goals, and Nice’s lead was reversed. He was at fault for the only goal of the game here, too. It was a missed pass that led to the goal. It once again coincided with the defender wearing the captain’s armband, which, for Bard, is the opposite of a lucky pair of socks, to the extent that you could argue that he should perhaps stop wearing it on superstitious grounds alone. All of the attacks in the first half came down his side, with Ali Abdi also to blame for the ease of Braga’s chance creation.

Kojo Peprah Oppong – 3

Tom Louchet – 5

There was intent from Louchet. But intentions don’t win you games, unfortunately. He was the only one who consistently showed intent in his pressing. It was something of a reaction after his needless red card over the weekend put paid to Nice’s chances of coming from behind against SCO Angers.

Isak Jansson – 3

Salis Abdul Samed – 3

Tanguy Ndombélé – 3

His first start this season, he was invisible. The game passed him by entirely, and his work rate was meagre. The latter has almost always been true of the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, but he used to at least make the difference when on the ball. But all of his interventions were sloppy, poorly executed, and he often lost the ball in promising positions. A lack of rhythm, given that he has barely played for the past 12 months, is, however, a mitigating circumstance, and one that does not apply to his teammates.

Tiago Gouveia – 4

Kevin Carlos – 3

Bernard Nguene – 3

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Nice