Third round of the Champions League preliminaries: two days before the match against Benfica, the Allianz Riviera is almost full

Two days before the big football event of the Riviera summer. Twenty-six thousand Nice residents, in the new capacity of 27,000 seats offered by the Allianz Riviera , have already booked their tickets this morning to encourage the Gym to validate theirs for the most prestigious of competitions. "We want the European Cup," the Populaire Sud often hammered home last season. A wish already granted, since the Europa League is at least assured, but that doesn't stop the red and black people from dreaming bigger against Benfica , a regular in the Champions League. "If we are united, the feat will be possible," the Populaire Sud declared on social networks. "Qualification will be achieved on Monday," the ultras group continued via a press release calling for mobilization for this morning's training session.

Souquet: "The Allianz's fervor surprised Ajax"

The meeting was set for 10 a.m. on the stadium forecourt, half an hour before the Allianz Riviera gates and the lower Ségurane stands opened. This gave us a first glimpse of the excitement in Nice for the return of a third preliminary round of the Champions League to Nice after 2017. "It's one of those evenings that mark a career," recalls Arnaud Souquet , one of the heroes of the qualification obtained against Ajax at the time (1-1 in Nice, 2-2 in Amsterdam). It's the first meeting of the season, with a time (9 p.m.) and a prestigious opponent that necessarily contribute to the excitement."

More than 31,000 tickets were sold that July evening. "The atmosphere at the Allianz, the fervor of the Nice people had surprised Ajax quite a bit," continued the full-back, who scored in the return leg. "I think that was one of the details that showed them that it wasn't going to be easy to eliminate us." As it turns out, the 12th man also has a role to play on Wednesday.