For OGC Nice 's win over Lille OSC on Sunday (2-1) their first at the Allianz Riviera in a Ligue 1 game for almost 11 months, it wasn't Jonathan Clauss who led his team out but Axel Witsel . The France international had inherited the armband following Dante 's retirement at the end of last season, however, Olivier Pantaloni has revealed how Clauss came to him to vacate the captaincy role.
"It's not me who changed the captain," said Pantaloni in a press conference attended by Get French Football News. "Jonathan came to see me to talk [about it]. He had a lot of bravery and honesty in coming to tell me that he didn't really think that he had the soul of a captain. From there, I saw him in a very positive way. We told the squad. He expressed himself in front of the players, explaining the reasons why he wanted to give up the armband. Everyone appreciated it."
On the decision to replace Clauss with 37-year-old Witsel, who joined the club this summer, Pantaloni added, "We took the time to reflect. We considered all of the profiles. We didn't want to get it wrong. Axel arrived this season. We asked ourselves the question, knowing that he is an experienced player with an immense career. He could be legitimate, but we wanted to reflect on it in order to avoid making a blunder."
GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Nice
