Arrived 4th in Ligue 1 last May, the OGC Nice of Franck Haise will start his season before everyone in France by playing the third qualifying round of the Champions League. See you in three weeks with a first leg on August 5 or 6 and a return round on Tuesday 12 (five days before the first championship match against Toulouse at home on Sunday 17). The draw for this 3rd round is scheduled for next Monday, at 12 noon, when the first round has returned its verdict in recent days.
For the Aiglons, it does not change much, Dante and his teammates already know their five possible opponents in the “league path” bringing together the national non-champions of the C1 qualifications. Nice is not among the heads of the start and, worse, even presents the worst ranking to the UEFA club coefficient. The French Riviera took only three points in eight matches at the Europa League last season.
The big favorite of these LDC qualifications is called Benfica, which is 15th at the club coefficient! Lisbon's training, which eliminated AS Monaco in C1 dams last February, began its preseason after very short vacation in the wake of its elimination in the 8th finals of the Club World Cup against Chelsea (4-1). Angel Di Maria said goodbye, but Benfica also lost his side Alvaro Carreras, sold at Real Madrid for 50 million euros.
OGC Nice against Van Persie?
Nice can also come across the Bruges club and the Rangers, which clashed last season in the phase of the Champions League League. The vice-champion of Belgium is still led by Hans Vanaken, a talented but rather atypical playmaker of 1.95 m. The Glasgow team, where the goalscorer Cyriel Dessers evolves, is opposed to Panathinaikos in the 2nd round, next week. Feyenoord is the last possible opponent. This is the team that finished 3rd in Eredivisie and which is trained by a certain … Robin Van Persie!
The Niçois have already played two preparation matches, with a first victory against the Bruges circle (2-1) with a double of Badredine Bouanani then a success against Aubagne (3-0). Jonathan Clauss, the young Bernard Nguene and Evann Guessand found the way to the nets. The latter could stay with the Aiglons after the departure of Gaëtan Laborde in Saudi D2. Haise hopes to count on its executives last season to hoist the club in the Champions League League. It will therefore be necessary to cross the 3rd round then the dams …
