Nice bounce back

Nice atoned for an opening-day humiliation by securing their first points of the season from a 2-1 victory over 10-man Rennes.

Nice atoned for an opening-day humiliation by securing their first points of the season from a 2-1 victory over 10-man Rennes. Dario Cvitanich saw his 20th-minute opener cancelled out by Nelson Oliveira just before the break but Jeremy Pied would hit what proved to be the winner following the restart. Rennes winger Vincent Pajot was then dismissed at the death for a professional foul on Valentin Eysseric. Oliveira showed early promise at the Stade Municipal du Ray by flashing a low shot against David Ospina when put through by Pajot, but it would be Cvitanich and Nice who opened the scoring thanks to some poor defending from the Breton side. Kevin Theophile-Catherine was to blame as the loose ball bobbled across the D to Eric Bautheac, who took the gift presented to him and set Cvitanich up to beat Benoit Costil from close range. Nice pressed on and Cvitanich was denied a second by Costil before slamming the ball against a post from Christian Bruls' parried effort. Oliveira dragged Rennes back into the contest, however, when he controlled a Yassine Jebbour cross from the left to tuck the ball beyond Ospina. Only five minutes of the second half had passed when Nice wrested back the lead, Jebbour losing the ball to Pied who raced forward to rifle past a furious Costil. The visitors came close to levelling for the second time when Mevlut Erding tried his luck against Ospina, and Timothee Kolodziejczak soon found himself heading against the crossbar at the other end. Rennes' last chance to salvage a point came five minutes from time when Julien Feret's curling free-kick tested Ospina's concentration but, when Pajot brought Eysseric down as the last man to earn an inevitable red card, their luck had run out.