French Ligue 1 side Nice produced an impressive performance to defeat Rennes 5-2 on Friday, with Elye Wahi scoring a hat-trick to hand the visitors a setback in their pursuit of leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Nice made a lively start and took the lead in the 12th minute after Wahi won a penalty and converted it, sending goalkeeper Nicolas Lemaitre the wrong way.
Rennes responded almost immediately, with Sebastian Szymanski heading home Mahamadou Nagida’s cross three minutes later to restore parity.
The hosts regained the advantage in the 34th minute when Wahi converted another penalty after Jonathan Clauss was brought down by Valentin Rongier.
Nice extended their lead just before the interval as Wahi set up Clauss, who finished confidently to make it 3-1 at half-time.
Nice continued their dominance after the restart, with Mohamed Amoura scoring in the 52nd minute following an excellent attacking move.
Rennes reduced the deficit six minutes later after Boulaye Dia converted a penalty awarded when Niels Nkounkou fouled Mousa Tamari.
The visitors attempted to fight their way back into the contest, but Nice delivered another blow when Wahi completed his hat-trick in the 77th minute.
The striker capitalised on a defensive error by Nagida, with Gauthier Hein providing the assist.
The victory marked Nice’s fourth win in their last five matches and extended their unbeaten home run to nine games, their longest such streak since February 2024.
They moved up to seventh place ahead of the weekend fixtures.
Rennes, meanwhile, suffered their second defeat in three league matches but remain second on the table for now, four points behind PSG.
The result leaves them vulnerable to being overtaken by the chasing teams.
