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UEL Preview: Nice head to Ferencváros

While Ligue 1 McDonald's teams have dominated in the UEFA Champions League, with AS Monaco and Brest still unbeaten and LOSC Lille having shocked both Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, the continent's other competition has been a mixed bag. Olympique Lyonnais have won each of their first two matches, but OGC Nice are still looking for their first victory of the league phase as they head east to take on Hungarian side Ferencváros.
E. DEVIN
Published on 10/23/2024 at 15:00
2-minute read
Tanguy Ndombélé will hope to be fit enough lead Nice to a first European win of the season

Injury struggles continue

Franck Haise has been on the receiving end of some good news on the fitness front of late, having recovered the likes of Gaëtan Laborde, Melvin Bard and Mohamed-Ali Cho from injury. However, even as he's welcomed back those two attackers, he has to deal with a rash of absences elsewhere. Tanguy Ndombélé is a doubt, while Dante, Morgan Sanson and Youssouf Ndayishmiye have all been ruled out, leaving the manager with a bit of a selection headache as he looks to rebound from a humbling loss away to Lazio in the previous round.

To deal with his absences, Haise will hew to his preferred style of play, with the firmament of the system hopefully enough of a structure to withstand the aforementioned absences, with Antoine Mendy and Mohamed Abdelmonem both likely to feature in defence. That said, even if the defence may be somewhat makeshift, in the likes of Jonathan Clauss and Evann Guessand, Nice have some truly dangerous attackers and should be well-positioned for a victory on the road.

Looking for redemption

Having started in the second qualifying round of the Champions League,  Ferencváros dropped into the Europa League after losing to Danish side Midtyjlland in the following round, before beating Bosnian side Borac Banja Luka to reach the league phase. Their first two matches, against Anderlecht and Tottenham Hotspur, were both 2-1 losses, and the hosts enter this match as one of just six sides yet to have picked up a point in the competition.

Domestically, though, things have been brighter for Pascal Jansen's side. Two former Ligue 1 players -- Adama Traoré and Aleksandr Pesic, late of FC Metz and Toulouse FC, respectively, have been the danger men, while another former Grenat, Habib Maïga, is a key man in midfield. If the hosts can get a tune out of their attack against Les Aiglons' sometimes-cavalier defence, Haise could yet have his hands full in this encounter.

Predicted lineups:

Ferencváros (4-2-3-1): Dibusz; Makreckis, Cissé, Gartenmann, Ramírez; Rommens, Maïga (or Fani); Traoré, Zachariassen, Kehinde; Varga 

OGC Nice (3-4-3): Bulka; Mendy, Bombito, Abdelmomem; Clauss, Rosario, Boudaoui (or Ndombélé); Louchet (or Bard); Bouanani, Guessand, Boga 

Read more:

>> David brace fuels another LOSC win

>> UEL Preview: Lyon host Besiktas

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