With storms battering mainland Europe, some of this week’s UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League were played in what can be described as suboptimal conditions. After AS Monaco salvaged a draw (2-2) from the swimming pool of Zagreb on Wednesday night, it was OGC Nice’s turn to play in similar, arguably even worse, conditions.
The deluge in Rome started way before kick-off between Nice and Lazio in matchday two of the Europa League. And it never relented. Lazio took control of the match whilst the pitch was still just about playable, with the Serie A side heading into the break with a 2-1 lead.
‘The second half was no longer football’ – Nice manager Haise
However, as the second half progressed, the pitch became increasingly sodden, to the extent that dribbling became impossible. It became long-ball football and in these conditions, Lazio adapted better, eventually going on to win the match 4-1. However, Dante believes that the match should have been halted due to the playing conditions.
“I think at one point the game [should have been postponed] yes. Maybe with the calendar as it is it would have been even more difficult to replay the match but above anything else, but you have to be careful about players’ health because if one or two get injured, we would have asked why,” said the Nice captain post-match.
Without echoing Dante’s calls, Franck Haise was also critical of the conditions.“I’m not going to analyse the second half too much – even if we quickly conceded the third goal which definitively put us out of arm’s reach – given the conditions. I can’t talk about the game in the second half because there couldn’t be one. The second half, it was no longer football,” said the Nice manager.
