A place in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France is up for grabs when Nice travel to fourth-tier Stade Briochin on Wednesday.
The lower-league side have been excellent in their cup run so far, especially here at the Stade Fred-Aubert, and will now face their toughest opponents yet.
Match preview
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Nice come into the last 16 tie as resounding favourites, but they have not made the best preparation for it, given their last few results.
In Europe especially, Nice were woeful, with only Qarabag finishing below them in the 36-team standings of the Europa League, limping out with a whimper by drawing at home to Bodo/Glimt last Thursday.
That meant Franck Haise's side won none of their eight league phase fixtures in the Europa League, but they have recorded two in this competition.
The Ligue 1 side needed penalties to beat US Corte though, after playing over an hour with 10 men, before seeing off second-tier Bastia 1-0 in the last round.
The 2022 finalists made it to the quarter-finals last season, losing to Paris Saint-Germain, but that is just one of two occasions where they have gotten beyond the last 16 in 14 years.
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Domestic form is showing promising signs though, having now gone eight games without defeat in league and cup, but they threw away two points late on at Toulouse over the weekend, dropping out of the Ligue 1 top four.
It is approaching three decades since Nice's last Coupe crown back in 1997, and that was just three years after these two sides last met, in the 1993-94 Ligue 2 season, where Nice won the title thanks to taking four points off a Briochin side who finished up in sixth as a newly-promoted club.
Despite the huge gap in stature and divisions now, Briochin still provides a challenge for Nice, given their sensational recent form.
Guillaume Allanou's side are unbeaten in 10 games, extending that run with a 1-1 draw against Avranches on Friday.
After accruing just five points from their first six league games in the fourth tier this season, Briochin have since taken 18 from a possible 27, with the start of their Coupe de France campaign coinciding with their upturn in form.
In the early rounds, Briochin got past Paimpol comfortably and Saint-Malo on penalties, before causing a huge shock in the round of 64, knocking out Ligue 1 Le Havre thanks to Stan Janno's solitary goal.
Briochin then went on to win four straight games following that cup upset, including their round of 32 encounter with Annecy, where they needed penalties again after Christian Konan's late equaliser.
This is now the furthest the club have gone since 1966, when Strasbourg beat them 5-2 at this stage, with their only notable recent runs in the competition coming in 2018-19 and 2019-20, when they reached the last 64.
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Team News
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From the team that beat Annecy, there could be just one change, as Aimeric Gomis-Maillard may have done enough to win his place back in the side following a goal at the weekend, after he was sent off against Saint-Malo, and benched against Annecy.
Attacker Konan has been instrumental in their recent form, netting that leveller that forced penalties against Annecy, and he scored another leveller in their win over Saint-Malo last week.
There should be plenty of experience in the backline for the hosts, as first-choice trio Benjamin Angoua, Christophe Kerbrat and Hugo Boudin have a combined age of 108.
Nice manager Haise has often picked a strong team in this competition, and could do so again with them now eliminated from Europe.
Haise has used back-up goalkeeper Maxime Dupe in cup competitions over Marcin Bulka, while Dante and Gaetan Laborde may get a rest, but apart from that, Nice could be at full strength.
Terem Moffi, Jeremie Boga, Morgan Sanson and Pablo Rosario remain the quartet missing through injury for the Ligue 1 side.
Stade Briochin possible starting lineup:
L'Hostis; Le Marer, Angoua, Kerbrat, Boudin, Diakite; Gomis-Maillard, Beghin, Zakharyan; Achahbar, Konan
Nice possible starting lineup:
Dupe; Mendy, Ndayishimiye, Abdelmonem, Bard; Boudaoui, Bouanani, Camara; Cho, Moukoko, Guessand
We say: Stade Briochin 1-2 Nice
Nice will be huge favourites, but Briochin have knocked one top-flight club out of the competition already, and have put together a very impressive unbeaten run.
The visitors, even with some rotation, will still have enough though, with Haise's men performing excellently domestically themselves.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
