Nice vs Rennes 5-2

Nice beat Rennes 5-2 at Allianz Riviera in a match decided by Sepe Elye Wahi’s hat-trick and a third goal after the visitors had briefly levelled. Wahi scored twice from the spot and later added his third to put the result beyond doubt.

Wahi opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 12th minute before Sebastian Szymański equalised for Rennes on 15 minutes, set up by Mahamadou Nagida. Wahi then restored Nice’s lead with another penalty in the 34th minute, his second goal of the match, and Jonathan Clauss made it 3-1 in first-half stoppage time after being fed by Wahi. The half-time score was Nice 3-1 Rennes.

Mohamed Amoura stretched Nice’s lead to 4-1 in the 52nd minute from Sofiane Diop’s assist, but Rennes reduced the gap six minutes later when Boulaye Dia scored from the spot. Rennes made two changes on 45 minutes and two more on 68 minutes as they tried to reshape the game, while Nice’s own changes on 68 minutes and 74 minutes came before Wahi sealed it in the 73rd minute, finishing Gauthier Hein’s assist after Hein had come on in the 68th minute. Nice then made two more changes on 85 minutes, including Wahi going off after his hat-trick.

The numbers were close in several areas despite the scoreline. Rennes had 54% possession and 467 passes to Nice’s 46% and 408, and they also had more shots, 18 to 17, more on target, 9 to 8, and more corners, 7 to 4. Nice still finished with the higher xG, 3.47 to 2.66, and made 7 saves to Rennes’ 3.

There were four yellow cards for Nice and three for Rennes. Wahi was booked in the 62nd minute, while Anthony Rouault saw yellow for Rennes on 61 minutes. Charlie Cresswell and Mahdi Camara were both booked for Rennes in the 84th minute, and Mohamed Abdelmoneim, Youssouf Ndayishimiye and Mohamed Amoura were booked for Nice in the 84th and 88th minutes. There were no red cards.