Montpellier host Nîmes in hotly anticipated derby

Montpellier Hérault SC  –  Nîmes Olympique

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This fixture has been a long time coming, with Nîmes able to resume hostilities with their near neighbours after making their return to the elite in the summer. It is the first meeting of the teams since April 2009, when Nîmes claimed a 2-1 home win with both sides in the second tier. You have to go back much further to find the last time the sides clashed in the top division, however, with Montpellier winning 1-0 in March 1993 thanks to a goal from Michel Der Zakarian, now the coach at the Stade de la Mosson.

Montpellier have never lost at home to the Crocodiles in the top two divisions, and they are the favourites for a fixture which will be watched by a crowd of 19,000, with barely 600 away fans being allowed to make the short 55 kilometre trip south-west.

Der Zakarian’s team are in good form, unbeaten in six Ligue 1 Conforama games since starting the campaign with a 2-1 home defeat against Dijon FCO. In midweek they drew 2-2 with SM Caen in Normandy, Andy Delort and Damien Le Tallec getting their goals before skipper Vitorino Hilton was sent off late on.

Highlights: Montpellier claim point at Caen

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That means Hilton will be suspended here, as Montpellier chase a second straight home win to follow their 1-0 success last weekend against OGC Nice, which was their first victory in front of their own fans since early February. While the absence of the veteran Brazilian is a blow, the club have been boosted this week by the news that goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte has signed a new long-term contract.

“The club and I try to have a maximum amount of ambition and I hope this contract will help me to perform even better,” Lecomte said. “I think we are having a good season, even if we can have some regrets in certain matches.”

Rivals linked by Blanc, Girard and Cantona

While things are looking up in Montpellier, their rivals come into this game without a win in five outings since starting the campaign with back-to-back victories against Angers SCO and Olympique de Marseille. Bernard Blaquart’s side have drawn their last three matches, but they were left frustrated in midweek as they drew 0-0 at home to bottom side EA Guingamp, with Umut Bozok missing a penalty in the first half.

“I am so pleased to be playing this derby in Ligue 1. There have not been all that many of them, but we will obviously be trying to get a result,” Blaquart told local newspaper Le Midi Libre.

“This is a match with a special flavour. We will be preparing for it like any other game, but we need to stay calm, not get carried away by all the excitement. Montpellier are a big club, just behind the biggest teams in the league, so we know how difficult a game awaits us,” added the coach, who saw captain Anthony Briançon miss the Guingamp clash.

Highlights: Bozok penalty miss costs Crocos

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The last time Nîmes played here in the top flight, they had Laurent Blanc in their line-up, and the former Paris Saint-Germain and France coach is just one of several leading names to have represented both clubs.

Blanc comes from the Gard region around Nîmes but started his distinguished career at Montpellier before moving to the Crocodiles for a year in the early 1990s via a spell at Napoli. Meanwhile, René Girard had two spells as a Nîmes player but will forever be remembered as the man who led MHSC to the Ligue 1 title in 2012, and Éric Cantona won the Coupe de France with Montpellier in 1990 before a stint at Nîmes the following year.

Some great players and coaches have crossed the divide, but the rivalry between these teams is a very real one, and Ligue 1 Conforama is all the richer for having this fixture back, a quarter of a century later.

Probable teams

Montpellier: To follow

Nîmes: To follow

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