AS Monaco have come from a goal down at half time to beat 10-man Nice and open their Ligue 1 campaign with a win.
Les Aignons started brightly at the Allianz Riviera and took the lead on seven minutes when Valere Germain reacted quickest to Alassane Plea's low cross before diverting the ball beyond the reach of Danijel Subasic.
Nice almost doubled their lead when Plea's strike from distance was only inches wide of the Monaco goal.
AS boss Leonardo Jardim made two tactical changes before half time, with Mario Pasalic and Nabil Dirar taken off.
One of the replacements, Bernardo Silva, came close to scoring within minutes of coming on as he headed wide from Anthony Martial's cross.
Moments before the interval, Nice teenager Olivier Boscagli was dismissed for a second bookable offence
Despite having a one-man advantage, the visitors almost went further behind within moments of the restart as Germain's side-footed effort was kept out by the outstretched leg of Subasic.
However, Monaco were back on level terms on 51 minutes when Hatem Ben Arfa surrendered possession, which prompted a counter attack that was rounded off with a calm finish from Silva.
Just after the hour mark, Layvin Kurzawa gave Les Rouges et Blancs the lead as he beat substitute keeper Mouez Hassan with a header, which hit the bar, but the left-back was on hand to tuck home the rebound.
On 65 minutes, Stephan El Shaarawy almost capped his league debut with a spectacular overhead kick, which Hassan managed to tip over the crossbar.
Plea came close to snatching a late equaliser for OGC, but his close-range strike was wide as Monaco opened with a win.
Chris O'Keefe
