Both captains walked out at the Stade Francis-Le Bl\u00e9 wearing the same armband, bearing the words \u201cKing \u00c9ric\u201d. On Friday night, Stade Brestois and OGC Nice paid a joint tribute to \u00c9ric Roy, a Nice native trained at the club, who hung up his boots there before becoming sporting director and then head coach. \u201cBorn in Nice, trained there, a professional player, coach and executive, \u00c9ric Roy also left a permanent mark on the history of Stade Brestois 29\u201d, the Breton club wrote in its statement. On X, Nice summed up its tribute in three words: \u201c\u00c9ric Roy, Uno Di Noi\u201d, one of us. Neither club explained the reason for the tribute; the armband will be worn again at the return fixture at the Allianz Riviera in February. In Brest, his three seasons on the bench stay in the memory, and Brest remain the last club he coached.<\/p>\n
Brest had the game under control first. In the 15th minute, Yehvann Diouf misplaced a pass out from the back and handed Ludovic Ajorque an empty net (1-0). The Nice goalkeeper made amends early in the second half against Kenny Lala (47th) and Hugo Magnetti (48th), and the Gym took over. Elye Wahi toe-poked an equaliser in the 61st minute from a Mohamed Amoura corner (1-1), five days after scoring at Lyon. A Sofiane Diop header went inches wide of the post (68th), Wahi missed the ball by centimetres (74th), and in the 83rd Diop punished a Bradley Locko giveaway twenty metres from the Brest goal (1-2). The last act belonged to the keeper: a Brest penalty after Isak Jansson fouled Ibrahim Kant\u00e9, and Diouf pushed away Lala\u2019s spot kick (90th+10), the full-back having converted his previous eleven penalties.<\/p>\n