A fatal penalty shootout, an invasion of the pitch: Saint-Etienne lost to Auxerre, who scored 5 against 4 for their opponent, Sunday May 29 at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, a result that sends the Greens in Ligue 2 and brought AJA back to Ligue 1 ten years after their descent. As soon as the last successful shot on goal by the Auxerrois Birama Touré, synonymous with victory for the Burgundians, the field was invaded by thousands of angry supporters who sent pyrotechnic devices towards the official stand protected by the forces of the order while the Saint-Etienne players, in danger, were surrounded by the stewards and rushed, like the other players in the match, towards the locker room.
The Geoffroy-Guichard stadium again risks serious sanctions even though it is on borrowed time because of multiple incidents. On Sunday, the Snella stand was closed following incidents during the reception of Monaco on April 23, a clearly insufficient sanction which put thousands of people in danger. Beyond this round-trip dam against Auxerre, relegation sanctions a disastrous season for Saint-Etienne, who had snatched the right to play in the dams after a draw in Nantes (1-1) during the 38th. and last day of the championship.
Over the season, ASSE only totaled 32 points, which could, in most cases, have sent it directly to Ligue 2. The hoped-for miracle with the arrival of Pascal Dupraz, who had already contributed to the rescues of Toulouse (2016) or Evian-Thonon-Gaillard (2014), did not give the expected effect. Of the last eight matches, Saint-Etienne has not won any with four defeats and four draws, the last of which ended in a disastrous penalty shootout. However, the Greens had obtained an interesting draw (1-1) last Thursday at the Abbé-Deschamps stadium, with an away goal by Zaydou Youssouf which gave ASSE a very slight advantage.
But on Sunday, Hamza Sakhi gave Auxerre a deserved advantage by scoring with a header after receiving a cross delivered from the right wing by Mathias Autret (51). Mahdi Camara equalized with a header after Enzo Crivelli’s first header from a corner (76), completing a good period for the Stéphanois who were perfectly supported until the end of the penalty shootout by 32,000 supporters. In Auxerre, goalkeeper Donovan Léon was decisive in his team’s victory, successfully intervening in front of Denis Bouanga at the start of the match (2, 7).
Subsequently, the Icaun goalkeeper intervened on a shot from Adil Aouchiche (31) while Bouanga, despite a good position, missed the target when receiving a cross from Romain Hamouma (46). Léon was also decisive on shots from Arnaud Nordin (84, 105, 120) or Bouanga again (87) in front of which Carlens Arcus also intervened well (115). And he magnificently diverted the first shot on goal from Ryad Boudebouz, the only failure of the shooters during the session. Unlike Dupraz, on the other bench, Jean-Marc Furlan obtains with Auxerre his fifth accession to Ligue 1 after that acquired with Troyes (2005, 2012, 2015) and Brest (2019).
pic.twitter.com/I1Ex0vTR1W
