#ASSE #collapses #Reims #approaches #Ligue
At the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium,
The scene of the disaster occurred this Saturday in Saint-Etienne. Namely, paying the high price of a Green Angels birthday celebrated without surprises against AS Monaco with dozens of smoke bombs. So the next total camera comes at the worst time, during an extremely tense day 37 of Ligue 1.
And yet, facing a Stade de Reims (12th) well embedded in the soft bottom, the Greens had the means to keep their place in the play-off, with 3 points ahead of Metz and 4 over Bordeaux before the meeting. Defeated (1-2) after a disastrous second period, Pascal Dupraz’s men are now in 19th place, ahead of Metz’s goal average (six goals).
The cold snap from the start
Sainté didn’t take two minutes to concede his 75th goal of the season. A fun performance as the Rémois had so far not passed the center line. Even when they seem to go into a meeting well, the Greens can always quickly recall how dramatically permeable they have been for many months.
Mitchell van Bergen (0 goals and 0 assists this season in Ligue 1) baffled both Yvann Maçon and Saïdou Sow by taking the ball on his left flank. Paul Bernardoni made a good save against Ilan Kebbal in the center of the Dutchman’s back, but Marshall Munetsi closed the action and put a big shot behind the head of the Stéphanois (0-1, 2nd). The scenario of a new disappointment, especially in this gloomy environment, took shape.
a misleading reaction
The ASSE reacted only ten minutes later, thanks to a clueless corner by Yunis Abdelhamid, which allowed Eliaquim Mangala to equalize with a goal of mine from the left (1-1, 12th). This was followed by a very clear highlight from Pascal Dupraz’s men, with several important chances to take the lead, such as a not-strong-enough header from Ryad Boudebouz (17), and two attempts from Mahdi Camara repelled by reflex saves from Predrag Rajkovic (21 and 27). But given Saint-Etienne’s completely upside-down second half, this good sequence doesn’t weigh much.
Hugo Ekitike and the Rémois bring Sainté closer to Ligue 2
How could the Stéphanois get in such a bad way in the second half? It is a mystery in view of the sword of Damocles that has hung over the club since the beginning of this difficult season, or almost. It took two miraculous saves by Miguel Trauco and Saïdou Sow (55th), then a shot very close to the skylight by Hugo Ekitike, which came into play at half-time (56th), to repel the cruel admission of failure. The ASSE defense finally gave in on the first goal in Ligue 1 by Kamory Doumbia (19), who easily outpointed Eliaquim Mangala on point (1-2, 55). Between Ekitike’s shot at the post (83rd) and an incredible save by Paul Bernardoni against Dion Lopy (85th), Sainté came close to an even bigger disappointment, and it had serious consequences with FC Metz’s win against Angers (1-0). ), while Bordeaux could not beat Lorient (0-0).
To top it off, the Saint-Etienne players were aggrieved when Romain Hamouma was denied an equalizer for a two-half goal, lightly touching Rajkovic’s arm at the point (72nd). Clément Turpin could have been arrested by the entire Cauldron, around thirty people, so he did not go himself to check the VAR images. Add to that a superb floating free kick by Wahbi Khazri that flirted with the skylight of a badly beaten Rajkovic… In a tense post-match context with incidents around the Cauldron, Sainté now does more than flirt with Ligue 2, in the shoes 19 when he moves to Nantes next Saturday, and with the hope that PSG beat Metz at the same time.