Lucien Favre's OGC Nice and their bid to top Ligue 1

OGC Nice made a sensational start to the season. The Eagles were top of Ligue 1 after 16 rounds, and Lucien Favre’s side had won 12 of those 16 matches, the best record in the league. With only one defeat, Nice have collected 39 points, three more than Monaco and four ahead of the big title favourites, Paris Saint-Germain.

The Eagles beat Toulouse 3-0 the previous night, their seventh home win in nine games. Alassane Pléa opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, and just three minutes later Belhanda doubled the lead, both goals set up by Dante. Jean Michaël Seri added the third in the 65th minute to secure the three points. Pléa became Nice’s top league scorer of the campaign with nine goals.

Although Mario Balotelli had not played since 6 November, the Eagles seemed even stronger without their biggest star. Nice had conceded only two goals in their last five league matches.

The Eagles had also beaten the strongest teams in the division. They thrashed Monaco 4-0 two months earlier and beat Lyon 2-0 and Saint-Étienne 1-0.

OGC Nice looked well placed to qualify for the Champions League, but could they fight for the title? The Eagles had kept eight clean sheets that campaign. Their most important match was a week away, against champions Paris Saint-Germain, and a win there would give Nice a serious chance of lifting the trophy.

The season was proving extremely interesting, and not only in Ligue 1. RB Leipzig were challenging for the title in Germany and Feyenoord were top of the table in the Netherlands. All of these teams had a chance to repeat Leicester City’s fairy tale.

The meeting with Paris Saint-Germain

Lucien Favre had taken charge of Nice at the start of pre-season, at the end of June 2016, and the trip to the Parc des Princes on 11 December 2016 was the clearest test yet of his side’s credentials. Nice led 2-0 at half-time: Wylan Cyprien opened the scoring with a free kick in the 32nd minute and Alassane Pléa added a second in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Edinson Cavani replied straight after the restart and equalised on the hour, and the match finished 2-2. Goalkeeper Yoan Cardinale made seven saves, including a late stop from a Layvin Kurzawa header, and the draw left Nice on 40 points from 17 games, one ahead of Monaco and four clear of Unai Emery’s champions.

How the 2016–17 season ended

Nice could not stay in front over the full campaign, but their first season under Favre was still remarkable. The Eagles finished third in Ligue 1 with 78 points from 22 wins, 12 draws and only four defeats, scoring 63 goals and conceding 36. Mario Balotelli ended the season as the club’s top scorer with 15 league goals and 17 in all competitions. Third place earned Nice a place in the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 Champions League.

The title went to Monaco, who won Ligue 1 for the first time since the 1999–2000 season. Leonardo Jardim’s side collected 95 points from 30 wins, five draws and three defeats and scored 107 league goals. Paris Saint-Germain finished second on 87 points, nine behind the champions.

The other surprise packages

The other challengers mentioned alongside Nice also had memorable seasons. RB Leipzig, promoted in May 2016, finished second in their first Bundesliga campaign behind champions Bayern Munich and qualified for the Champions League at the first attempt, with Timo Werner scoring 21 league goals. Feyenoord went one better in the Netherlands: on the final day Dirk Kuyt scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 home win over Heracles Almelo, and the Rotterdam club finished one point ahead of Ajax to win the Eredivisie for the first time since the 1998–99 season, the 15th league title in their history.