Saint-Etienne supporters had to travel through all the states this Sunday. Saint-Étienne punched their ticket to Ligue 1 at the end of a very lively return play-off (2-1 in the first leg, Thursday) and won after an unbearable extra time (2-2), at the Stade Saint-Étienne. Symphorien, this Sunday.
Trailing 2-0 after 23 minutes, the Greens are “returns from hell”, as Anthony Briançon so well put it to his teammates before starting overtime. Léo Pétrot quickly reset the counters to zero from a corner (2-1, 35th), but Saint-Étienne struggled for a long time against the valiant Messins, until this goal from the returning Ibrahima Wadji, at the very end of extra time (117th ).
The match: 2-2
And yet, this time the Messins did not have “lack of desire”, as had been the case three days earlier. The unfortunate Diallo left the field in tears after his yellow card was transformed into a red following intervention by the VAR, his teammates stepped up to make the feat possible with a numerical inferiority. Lamine Camara recovered a ball in midfield and shifted Koffi Kouao down the right lane. The garnet full-back’s center found its opposite counterpart, Matthieu Udol, whose shot was angrily tackled into the back of the net… by Camara himself (1-0, 17th).
Having started their match very badly, the Stéphanois conceded a second goal straight away. Author of a number on the left wing, Georges Mikautadze was pushed into the area by Irvin Cardona and himself transformed the penalty obtained, with the complicity of the left post of Gautier Larsonneur (2-0, 25th).
But Saint-Étienne got back into the match thanks to Léo Pétrot (2-1, 35th). The left back got away from his defender to equalize from a corner, alone at the far post, following a deflection from Aïmen Moueffek. The first in a long series of set pieces which regularly put the Messins – Alexandre Oukidja in the lead – in difficulty.
Valiant, the Garnets gradually decreased in intensity upon returning from the locker room. On a thread, like this saving tackle from Kouao in front of Cardona (61st), Metz could have been punished by the Stéphanois finally found. Having entered the game ten minutes earlier, Yvann Maçon thought of equalizing on a confused action (65th). A goal finally refused after a new intervention by the VAR and a long viewing of the images by Mr. Brisard, for a contact between Ibrahim Sissoko and Oukidja, which led to the fall of Matthieu Udol.
11
This is the 11th time in its history that Metz has gone down to Ligue 2. A record in France. The garnet club has gone down to L2 in 7 of its 12 L1 seasons in the 21st century, more than any other team.
The Messins delayed the deadline thanks to a few saves from Oukidja (81st) and pushed the Stéphanois into overtime. Thirty additional minutes of running around, stinging in sequences, like this Madjer by Kévin Van Den Kerkhof saved on his line by Larsonneur (97th), or this attempt by Arthur Atta blocked by a Stéphanois (108th).
The player: Ibrahima Wadji
Appearing in the 102nd minute of play, following Ibrahim Sissoko’s relay, Ibrahima Wadji turned into an unexpected Saint-Etienne hero. Appearing only nine times (485 minutes in total) and constantly hampered by a stubborn thigh, the Senegalese striker scored his only goal of the season at the best of times.
Served by another entrant, the untenable Nathanaël Mbuku, the 29-year-old center forward reduced Metz’s hopes to nothing. No penalty shootout to decide the fate of this double confrontation, and a return to Ligue 1 for the Greens two years after their descent. The joy of Saint-Etienne contrasted with the distress of the exhausted Messins, incapable of any reaction after having made so much effort for more than 120 minutes.
