Saint-Etienne supporters needed to journey by means of all of the states this Sunday. Saint-Étienne punched their ticket to Ligue 1 after a really energetic return play-off (2-1 within the first leg, Thursday) and received after an insufferable additional time (2-2), on the Stade Saint-Étienne. Symphorien, this Sunday.
Trailing 2-0 after 23 minutes, the Greens “got here again from hell”, as Anthony Briançon put it so properly to his teammates earlier than beginning additional time. Léo Pétrot rapidly reset the counters to zero from a nook (2-1, thirty fifth), however Saint-Étienne struggled for a very long time towards the valiant Messins, till this objective from the returning Ibrahima Wadji, on the very finish of additional time (117th ).
And but, this time, the Messins didn’t “lack of want”, as had been the case three days earlier. The unlucky Diallo left the sector in tears after his yellow card was reworked right into a pink following intervention by the VAR, his teammates stepped as much as make the feat doable with a numerical inferiority. Lamine Camara recovered a ball in midfield and shifted Koffi Kouao down the correct lane. The garnet full-back’s middle discovered its reverse counterpart, Matthieu Udol, whose shot was angrily tackled into the again of the online… by Camara himself (1-0, seventeenth).
Having began their match very badly, the Stéphanois conceded a second objective immediately. Writer of a quantity on the left wing, Georges Mikautadze was pushed into the realm by Irvin Cardona and himself reworked the penalty obtained, with the complicity of the left submit of Gautier Larsonneur (2-0, twenty fifth).
However Saint-Étienne obtained again into the match because of Léo Pétrot (2-1, thirty fifth). The left again obtained away from his defender to equalize from a nook, alone on the far submit, following a deflection from Aïmen Moueffek. The primary in a protracted sequence of set items which recurrently put the Messins – Alexandre Oukidja within the lead – in problem.
Valiant, the Garnets regularly decreased in depth upon coming back from the locker room. On a thread, like this saving sort out from Kouao in entrance of Cardona (61st), Metz might have been punished by the Stéphanois lastly discovered. Having entered the sport ten minutes earlier, Yvann Maçon considered equalizing on a confused motion (sixty fifth). A objective lastly refused after a brand new intervention by the VAR and a protracted viewing of the pictures by Mr. Brisard, for a contact between Ibrahim Sissoko and Oukidja, which led to the autumn of Matthieu Udol.
11
That is the eleventh time in its historical past that Metz has gone right down to Ligue 2. A report in France. The garnet membership has gone right down to L2 in 7 of its 12 L1 seasons within the twenty first century, greater than every other staff.
The Messins delayed the deadline thanks to some saves from Oukidja (81st) and pushed the Stéphanois into additional time. Thirty further minutes of operating round, stinging in sequences, like this Madjer by Kévin Van Den Kerkhof saved on his line by Larsonneur (97th), or this try by Arthur Atta blocked by a Stéphanois (108th).
The participant: Ibrahima Wadji
Showing within the 102nd minute of play, following Ibrahim Sissoko’s relay, Ibrahima Wadji was an sudden Saint-Etienne hero. Showing solely 9 occasions (485 minutes in complete) and continuously hampered by a cussed thigh, the Senegalese striker scored his solely objective of the season at the very best of occasions.
Served by one other entrant, the untenable Nathanaël Mbuku, the 29-year-old middle ahead diminished Metz’s hopes to nothing. No penalty shootout to resolve the destiny of this double confrontation, and a return to Ligue 1 for the Greens two years after their descent. The enjoyment of Saint-Etienne contrasted with the misery of the exhausted Messins, incapable of any response after having made a lot effort for greater than 120 minutes.
