An Elye Wahi hat-trick helped Nice on their way to a 5-2 victory over Rennes, giving them their ninth successive home match unbeaten in a run that is their longest since February 2024 and leaving their opponents four points behind PSG at the top of Ligue 1.
The match got off to an all-action start with both teams showing real intent, although Adrien Thomasson blazed his shot high and wide and Nicolas Lemaitre rushed out to deny Wahi well.
Wahi reached the ball ahead of Les Rouge et Noirs’ goalkeeper to win a penalty moments later, though, and the striker then sent Lemaitre the wrong way with his spot-kick to open the scoring with 12 minutes on the clock.
The visitors took just three minutes to respond, as Mahamadou Nagida delivered a pinpoint cross for Sebastian Szymanski to head home the equaliser.Â
Hicham Boudaoui came close with two ambitious strikes from range, before Mousa Tamari beat the offside trap but slid his shot wide under pressure from Youssouf Ndayishimiye.
The Jordan international’s wastefulness was punished in the 34th minute, as Jonathan Clauss danced through the bodies in white until he was brought down by Valentin Rongier, and Wahi stepped up to score his second penalty of the match.
Rennes almost equalised swiftly again, although Yehvann Diouf held Boulaye Dia’s shot at the second attempt then tipped Nagida’s venomous strike over.
Instead, Les Aiglons added a buffer seconds before half-time as Wahi flicked the ball away from Anthony Rouault and into the path of Clauss, who finished emphatically.
Having already seen one effort loop onto the roof of Lemaitre’s net since the restart, Mohamed Amoura rounded off a brilliant move forward by beating the goalkeeper and Nagida with his low shot in the 52nd minute to put Nice three up.
Rennes reduced the buffer just six minutes later through a penalty of their own, with Niels Nkounkou bringing down Tamari before Dia converted from the spot.
The visitors turned up the pressure from there, as Rouault’s header at the end of a well-worked free-kick routine was saved and Tamari headed wide from a corner, before Nagida turned home Tamari’s low cross but had strayed agonisingly offside before doing so.
Nagida was then left disappointed at the other end, as his failure to deal with a cross allowed Gauthier Hein to set up Wahi for the striker to complete his hat-trick, netting a fifth goal from his last three games.
Eliezer Mayenda came closest to restoring any hope for the visitors by firing marginally over as Nice comfortably earned a fourth win from their last five matches to jump up to seventh ahead of Ligue 1’s weekend action.
While Rennes remain second for now, a second defeat from their last three league games offers the chasing pack a chance to usurp them.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elye Wahi (Nice)
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