Lens 3-1 Nice: Coupe de France Final
Lens beat Nice 3-1 on 22 May at the Stade de France to lift the Coupe de France for the first time, a breakthrough sealed under E. Sikora against Claude Puel’s Nice.
Lens set up in their familiar 3-4-2-1 with Florian Thauvin and Allan Saint-Maximin working off Odsonne Édouard. Nice mirrored the shape, building around Mohamed Ali Cho, Sofiane Diop, and Elye Wahi. The symmetry lasted barely 25 minutes. Thauvin took the initiative, scoring in the 25th minute after Matthieu Udol picked him out, a move that confirmed Lens were happier breaking quickly rather than owning the ball.
Sikora sought pace between the lines and he got it. Thauvin then supplied the second in the 42nd minute, slipping Édouard into a position he finished from without fuss. Nice held 58 percent of possession, yet their circulation lacked incision until the final breaths of the first half. Jonathan Clauss finally bent the structure in Lens’s half, feeding Djibril Coulibaly, who pulled one back in the 45+3rd minute. That lifeline forced Lens to reset the tempo at the interval.
Nice chased the equaliser through Diop and Wahi combining centrally, but Lens held their line thanks to Malang Sarr and Ismaelo Ganiou defending the width of the box. Robin Risser backed them with five saves, including two from Wahi’s efforts after diagonal deliveries. Sikora reacted first, withdrawing Saint-Maximin for Wesley Saïd in the 64th minute and introducing Abdallah Sima for Édouard in the 65th. That change settled the contest. Sima, on with fresh legs, made it 3-1 in the 78th minute, exploiting Nice’s higher back line once Thauvin had departed and Florian Sotoca was stretching the flank.
Puel’s bench options never quite clicked. Kaïl Boudache and Ali Abdi arrived in the 66th and 67th minutes, and Morgan Sanson followed in the 67th, but the rhythm remained stilted. Sanson’s late yellow card in the 90+2nd minute summed up the frustration. Kojo Peprah Oppong had already gone into the book in the 85th minute, the clearest evidence of Nice’s chasing. Udol’s caution in the 90+3rd minute mattered little: Lens were already celebrating in front of their end.
Risser, Sarr, and Ganiou deserve recognition for dealing with 12 Nice shots inside the box. Mamadou Sangare and Saud Abdulhamid did much of the dirty running, even with Abdulhamid taking a yellow in the 36th minute. Above all, Thauvin’s fingerprints are on the trophy, one goal and one assist before he left in the 77th minute to a roar rarely heard in this competition.
Statistics
- Possession: Lens 42 percent, Nice 58 percent
- Total shots: Lens 16, Nice 17
- Shots on target: Lens 4, Nice 6
- Corner kicks: Lens 9, Nice 7
- Saves: Robin Risser 5, Maxime Dupé 0
- Fouls: Lens 16, Nice 12
- Yellow cards: Lens 2 (Saud Abdulhamid 36', Matthieu Udol 90+3'), Nice 2 (Kojo Peprah Oppong 85', Morgan Sanson 90+2')
Lens now pivot to securing their European qualification path with fresh belief, while Nice must regroup before league duties resume, aware that this defeat will shadow the build-up to their next outing unless Puel can recalibrate the final-third plan quickly.
