PLAYER RATINGS | Monaco 0-3 Nice: Les Aiglons breeze past rivals in Côte d’Azur derby | OneFootball

Ligue 1, Round 25, 26/02/23

OGC Nice dominated local rivals AS Monaco at the Stade Louis II (0-3) thanks to scintillating individual performances from Terem Moffi, and in particular, Khéphren Thuram.

Monaco dominated possession but did nothing with it. By the end of the first half, they had registered nine shots, many from long-range and none troubling Kasper Schmeichel. Nice, on the other hand, had very little possession but were lethal when they had it.

Les Monégasques were caught out twice, conceding near-identical goals, both scored by Moffi, who latched onto long balls over the top to finish past Alexander Nübel to score his first goals in a Nice shirt. Thuram then scored a sublime solo goal to make it three before half-time, breaking through the lines before finishing the move that he had started with a sweetly-hit half-volley. Three shots, three goals for Les Aiglons, who looked at home on their rival’s turf.

There was no sign of revolt from Monaco, and Philippe Clement wrung the changes, making four at the break. Those changes took no effect. Monaco only created their first chance of the match in the 80th minute, Caio Henrique volleying just wide from close-range.

Monaco unbeaten in Ligue 1 in 2023 suffer their first defeat at the hands of their local rivals, just three days after their elimination from the Europa League. Not only that, Les Monégasuqes had scored in every Ligue 1 match since 13th March 2022. That 350-day run has come to an end.

Didier Digard remains unbeaten as Nice manager and is orchestrating an incredible revival at Les Aiglons, which could yet end in European qualification for next season.

Monaco player ratings

Alexander Nübel – 3 – Three shots, three goals for Nice in the first half. He certainly should have done better on the second. Split between coming and going, he did neither, ultimately finding himself in no-mans-land. After his errors against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek, which arguably cost Les Monégasques progression in the Europa League, he didn’t convince once more.

Malang Sarr – 5

Axel Disasi – 3 – Completely at fault for the opener, misreading the trajectory of the ball, and nowhere to be seen on the second. He wasn’t his usual self and made a series of small but costly errors.

Chrislain Matsima – 4 – Culpable on the second goal of not getting close enough to Moffi, and then on the third, allowing Thuram to breeze past him. Due to injuries, Matsima has had to be thrown in, but he is yet to really prove that he is at the level to start for Monaco.

Ismail Jakobs – 5

Youssouf Fofana – 3 – His performances have tailed off dramatically since the World Cup. His sloppy pass led to Nice’s second, and unlike in the first half of the season, he is failing to control the midfield. Mohamed Camara is picking up the slack, but he can only do so much.

Mohamed Camara – 5

Eliesse Ben Seghir – 5

Krépin Diatta – 4

Breel Embolo – 4

Myron Boadu – 4

Others: Aleksandr Golovin (4), Caio Henrique (4), Edan Diop (5), Wissam Ben Yedder (4)

Nice player ratings

Kasper Schmeichel – 5

Ayoub Amraoui – 4

Dante – 6

Jean-Clair Todibo – 7

Jordan Lotomba – 6

Youssouf Ndayishimiye – 7

Aaron Ramsey – N/A

Khéphren Thuram – 9 – A sublime performance against his former club. He is so efficient with his use of the ball. Nice barely had any possession, but with the scraps that he fed off, he scored one and assisted another. The vision and technical ability to set up Moffi for his second was phenomenal, and his line-breaking run and volley for Nice’s third was equally as impressive. Pre-match, Aaron Ramsey said that Thuram needed to add goals to his game to become a complete midfielder, and he did that in style against Monaco. Against Youssouf Fofana in the midfield, you would have guessed that Thuram was the fully-fledged France international.

Hicham Boudaoui – 6

Terem Moffi – 8 – He hasn’t quite looked himself since moving from Lorient registering a couple of anonymous performances. However, he was back to his clinical best against Monaco, scoring with his only two shots in the first half. The first relied on an incredible bit of control from the Nigerian international, who looks to have quickly refound his scoring touch.

Gaëtan Laborde – 6

GFFN | Luke Entwistle