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Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
French monuments in trouble while PSG prepare for Champions League final
Saint-Etienne and Lyon, who are local rivals, are facing up to the end of the French season with trepidation (JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK) While Paris Saint-Germain are looking forward to the Champions League final and have already wrapped up another Ligue 1 title, two of France's biggest clubs with proud European track records are facing the end of the season with trepidation. PSG beat Arsenal in their semi-final on Wednesday to set up a final at the end of May in Munich against Inter Milan, the second in their history after a defeat by Bayern Munich in 2020. Advertisement It will be the eighth time that a French side has appeared in the final of Europe's elite club competition, with Marseille in 1993 still the only team from the country to have won the trophy. Saint-Etienne were beaten finalists in 1976, when they lost 1-0 to Franz Beckenbauer's Bayern in Glasgow. Almost half a century later, they stand on the brink of being relegated to Ligue 2, just a year after coming back up and then being bought by Canadian billionaire Larry Tanenbaum. With two games of the season remaining they sit in the automatic relegation places, above only a Montpellier side who are already down. Advertisement Les Verts, whose tally of 10 French titles is bettered only by PSG on 13, are four points adrift of Le Havre in the relegation play-off spot and five away from outright safety. That means a defeat away to Reims on Saturday will send them down, while a draw will effectively mean relegation too due to their poor goal difference. However, a win will keep their hopes alive going into the last day, provided they also get some favours from elsewhere. "The whole season has been a struggle and a fight for our lives. There is nothing new about that," said Saint-Etienne's Norwegian coach, Eirik Horneland. Advertisement "We cannot wait for others anymore. We have to help ourselves. We need two victories to stay in the league." Saint-Etienne's great rivals Lyon are seventh with two games to play, their hopes of Champions League qualification were dealt a huge blow when they lost 2-1 to Lens last weekend. Lyon appointed Paulo Fonseca as coach at the end of January in the belief that he could take the seven-time French champions back to Europe's top table. However, they were three points off the top four then and they still are now, meaning it appears a first Champions League campaign since they got to the semi-finals in 2020 is probably beyond them. Advertisement Saturday's trip to third-placed Monaco is a game they simply must win, with the consequences of failing to reach the Champions League potentially disastrous for Lyon. The club owned by the American John Textor's Eagle Football Group have huge debts and were warned earlier this season by the French footballing authorities that they would be relegated if drastic action was not taken to reduce their liabilities. "We need to win our last two games and then see where that leaves us," Fonseca said this week. "It is six years since the club qualified for the Champions League so this is important. Advertisement "I want to be the coach who takes OL (Lyon) back there. It will be hard but it is possible." Player to watch: Andre Ayew The 35-year-old Ghanaian is hoping to fire Le Havre to survival for the second season running. On Saturday he will come up against Marseille, the club where he starred at the beginning of his career, making over 200 appearances. It is also the club where his father Abedi Pele played, winning the Champions League in 1993. Ayew is in line to make the 500th league appearance of his career, spread across stints in England, Qatar and Turkey as well as in France. Key stats 3 - PSG have lost their last two Ligue 1 games but have not suffered three consecutive league defeats since 2010 Advertisement 6 - Saint-Etienne are on the brink of being relegated for the sixth time in their history 2 - Just two points separate five teams, from Marseille in second to Strasbourg in sixth, in the fight for Champions League qualification Fixtures on Saturday (kick-offs 1900 GMT) Angers v Strasbourg, Auxerre v Nantes, Brest v Lille, Le Havre v Marseille, Monaco v Lyon, Montpellier v Paris Saint-Germain, Reims v Saint-Etienne, Rennes v Nice, Toulouse v Lens as/nf
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lyon request French league discard result of Saint-Etienne match
Lyon players stand shrouded in smoke created by flares prior to the start of their Ligue 1 match at fierce rivals Saint-Etienne (JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK) Lyon have lodged an appeal with the competitions organisation committee (COC) of the French football league (LFP) requesting the result of their derby defeat at Saint-Etienne not be recorded pending the decision of the disciplinary committee, sources close to the club said on Friday. According to the sources, Lyon consider their chances of securing a replay to be highly unlikely, but hope the appeal will "raise awareness" among the committee and the refereeing body. Advertisement The appeal comes ahead of Lyon's last four Ligue 1 matches, with the club fighting for a Champions League spot for next season. The sources said the club has made this decision in the hope to ensure these matches be referred as fairly as possible. Lyon lost 2-1 at the home of fierce historic rivals Saint-Etienne on Sunday at the end of a tumultuous match which was interrupted for almost 45 minutes when a coin was thrown at an assistant referee. The LFP's disciplinary committee opened an investigation into the incident on Wednesday with a decision expected to be taken in early May. According to the club and post-match statements by technical director Matthieu Louis-Jean, coins were also thrown at Lyon players during their pre-match warm-up. Advertisement In the club's appeal to the COC, Lyon claimed that during the crisis meeting organised to decide whether or not to resume the match they had said "that the safety of their players was not guaranteed". Furthermore, the seven-time French champions flagged up another incident during the match -- the decision to revoke a red card given to Saint-Etienne's match winner Lucas Stassin. The Belgian was shown a straight red for a tackle which caused Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso to leave the field on a stretcher, but the punishment was then downgraded to a booking after a VAR review. Stassin later scored his second goal of the match to give the hosts victory. Advertisement France's refereeing body afterwards admitted an error of judgement and said the red card "should not have been overruled". Lyon also claim the LFP and local authorities had warned at the pre-match meeting the encounter would not go ahead if banners reading "death to Lyon" were displayed in the stadium. According to sources close to the club, Lyon claim such banners were indeed present at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Sunday. fjt/nf/lp
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ligue 1 derby halted after assistant referee hit by projectile
Fans let off flares ahead of the kickoff as Saint-Etienne hosted Lyon (JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK) The Ligue 1 derby between Saint-Etienne and Lyon was interrupted just before half-time on Sunday evening after an assistant referee was hit by a projectile thrown from the crowd. The linesman, Mehdi Rahmouni bent over and clutched his head on the touchline as visitors Lyon were about to take a throw in at the Geoffrey-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne. Advertisement Referee Francois Letexier ordered the players off. Broadcaster DAZN reported that the officials and representatives of the clubs and the league were holding a meeting in the corridors of the ground and would decide whether to resume play or abandon the match within 45 minutes of the teams leaving the field. Lyon fans were banned from travelling to the match between the bitter rivals. The announced attendance was 40,372. Saint-Etienne have been threatened with closure of the two ends of the ground after recent "massive use of pyrotechnic devices and verbal abuse" but the pitch was still swathed in smoke from the stands before kick-off. Struggling Saint-Etienne were winning 1-0 after a 10th-minute goal by Belgian Lucas Stassin. ali-fjt/pb/bsp
