Mario Balotelli and OGC Nice picked up all three points as they saw off Nîmes Olympique 1-0 on Saturday in a bad-tempered game that the hosts finished with nine men after they had missed a penalty.
Nîmes Olympique 0-1 OGC Nice 
THE MATCH
The southern club’s first top-flight meeting since February 1981 promised to be a feisty encounter, though few could have imagined the drama of the 90 minutes to come.
They quickly got a taste of it though. Sada Thioub was brought down by Malang Sarr and Umut Bozok stepped up to take the spot-kick — the Turkey Under-21 international saw his penalty saved by Walter Benitez, the second penalty Bozok has failed to score this season (5′).
The challenges flew in on both sides, and Faitout Maouassa was the first man red-carded after picking up two yellow cards inside the first 20 minutes. Just before he headed for an early bath, he might also have had an assist had Baptiste Guillaume not failed to control his teammate’s cross inside the box (20′).
Maouassa did not have to wait long for company as Loïck Landre was shown a straight red card by referee Benoît Bastien for a wild challenge on Youcef Atal just before the break (45+2′).
Fabulous
Down to nine, Nîmes fought a rearguard action. Anthony Briançon nipped in ahead of Balotelli to clear (48′) before Nice’s star forward was denied by Paul Bernardoni, who smartly kept out the former Manchester City and Liverpool man’s low drive (55′).
Bernardoni was busy again when Christophe Jallet fired goalwards (59′), but was powerless to pervent Atal giving Nice the lead with a fabulous half-volley to Sarr’s cross (61′).
Nice sought to add a second, but Briançon again thwarted Balotelli (72′) before Bernardoni produced another save — this time denying Atal — after the Nice full-back had directed a shot towards the top corner (73′).
A miscued Dante clearance very nearly gave Nîmes an unexpected equaliser (83′), but the visitors might have added more only for Bernardoni to save from Wylan Cyprien (89′) and Atal again (90+3′) before the final whistle.
THE PLAYER: Paul Bernardoni
Long billed as a great goalkeeper of the future, the man who is on loan from Girondins de Bordeaux looks like he will be a major figure in Nîmes’ season. If the nine men had any hope of pulling off a shock result, it was thanks to him.
THE STAT: 8
Nice had eight shots on target, but scored just once, which is in large part down to Bernardoni.
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