Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 7:01 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 19:07

OGC Nice narrowly escaped a disgrace in the Ligue 1 on Sunday evening. Christophe Galtier’s team looked at a 1-0 deficit when visiting low-flyer Clermont, but turned it around in the final phase: 1-2. Justin Kluivert had an important part in the victory by providing the assist for the second goal. The attacker thus made a great comeback, after he had to miss the past few weeks due to injuries.

The last time Kluivert made playing minutes was on September 22 in the away match against FC Lorient. The attacker then ended up in the basket, but made his comeback against Clermont after more than an hour of play. The visitors from the south of France were already behind at that time, after Florent Ogier had given his team the lead after fifteen minutes of play. The defender headed in through the inside of the post after a free kick by Jason Berthomier. Nice offered very little in return in the first act.

On the stroke of half-time, the home team seemed to double the score through Johan Gastien, but his header from a corner ended up on the crossbar. In the second half, Nice came out better and tied the score fifteen minutes before the end. Amine Gouiri got the ball with some fortune on the edge of the penalty area and made an effective effort into the right corner: 1-1. Nice then pushed through and had good opportunities to take the lead, but a shot by Andy Delort was taken from the short corner by goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco.

Two minutes later, the comeback would be completed, when Gouiri signed for his second of the evening. The attacker controlled a corner from Kluivert with his chest and found the top right corner with a placed shot. With the win, Nice regains second place in Ligue 1. Galtier’s team now has 26 points from 14 matches, 11 points less than leader Paris Saint-Germain.