Thijs Dallinga made an unforgettable Ligue 1 debut at Toulouse on Sunday. The top scorer of the past Kitchen Champion Division season took the opening goal in the duel with OGC Nice. It ended up being 1-1.
Dallinga, who came over from Excelsior, was one of the three compatriots at the kick-off at Toulouse. Branco van den Boomen and Stijn Spierings were also in the starting line-up for the home team, which convincingly promoted to the highest level last season.
Moroccan international Zakaria Aboukhlal, who came over from AZ, started on the bench, but came on halfway through the second half.
Van den Boomen made a name for himself as the assist king in recent seasons and he also played an important role on Sunday. On a pass from the midfielder, Dallinga struck after twenty minutes by getting in front of his man and then finishing. At Nice, Pablo Rosario and Calvin Stengs kicked off and the latter was close to the equalizer with a shot on the crossbar.
For the app users: tap the tweet above for images of Thijs Dallinga’s hit.
Substitute Stengs ensures the equalizer
Nice insisted after the restart and it was summer addition Aaron Ramsey who saved a point for the ambitious visitors. The Welshman, who had just come in for Stengs, put the ball into the roof of the goal. Shortly after that goal, Dallinga was replaced by the home team.
Earlier this weekend, AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and Peter Bosz’s Olympique Lyonnais, among others, all won Ligue 1.
View the program, the standings and the results in the Ligue 1 here