Ten years later, Auxerre will be making a comeback in Ligue 1! AJA acquired their rise against Saint-Etienne, Sunday May 29, after the penalty shootout of the return match of the L1/L2 play-offs. As in the first leg, the two teams were neutralized at the end of regulation time (1-1), and it was necessary to go through the penalty shootout to allow Auxerre to return to Ligue 1 for the first time since 2012. .
The happiness of the Auxerrois at the final whistle, spoiled by an invasion of the pitch by the Saint-Etienne supporters, is proportional to the distress of the Greens. The descent of ASSE is an event as this club is a monument of French football: “Sainté”, it is ten titles of champion of France (the record equaled this season by PSG) and six French Cups. The club had played in Ligue 1 since 2004.
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Even more than Sunday’s game, the Greens may regret a first leg, Thursday, May 26, where they had the means to bring back better than a draw from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Dominating, they had managed to open the scoring very quickly thanks to a shot from the left of Zaydou Youssouf on a serve from Adil Aouchiche (15e). But after missing several opportunities to widen the gap, they had finally suffered in the last half hour, until the equalizer of Gaëtan Perrin, also from the left (87e).
The Stéphanois suffered
“You shouldn’t play small. We will have to deliver a real match to maintain us, ” warned Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni after the first leg. The Greens had the advantage thanks to their away goal counting double, and could be tempted to try to preserve the 0-0 to ensure their maintenance. His teammates listened to him, but only a few minutes, the time for Denis Bouanga to appear alone against Donovan Léon, but the Stéphanois shot directly at the goalkeeper without putting him in danger (2nd).
Despite the encouragement from a Geoffroy-Guichard stadium which had responded to this crucial match, the Greens then suffered the offensives of Auxerrois much less timid than on the way out. Hamza Sakhi lit the first wick from afar (10e), then striker Gaëtan Charbonnier completely missed his shot after a magnificent collective action by his team (15e).
And while the Stéphanois had reacted timidly with a free kick from Wahbi Khazri into the wall a few minutes earlier (12e), the Auxerrois accelerated again at the end of the first act by Gaëtan Charbonnier, too imprecise on his long shot (39e) and especially by Gauthier Hein, who came close to appearing alone against the goalkeeper (40e). The whistles that descended from the stands of the Cauldron Vert at half-time clearly illustrated the concern of an entire city.
Ryad Boudebouz, unfortunate shooter
A concern that turned into real fear on returning from the locker room. Upon receiving a cross from Mathias Autret, Hamza Sakhi flew away to send a sublime lob into the cage of a totally powerless Bernardoni (52e). At that time, the Auxerrois were virtually promoted to Ligue 1, but could not enjoy it for long. Coming into play a few minutes later, Enzo Crivelli indeed flew higher than everyone on a corner to deflect the ball towards the head of Mahdi Camara (75e), which equalized.
The score remained there despite a last header from Arnaud Nordin (83e) for Saint-Etienne and the two teams were going to extra time where both teams thought more about not conceding a goal than scoring one. Only Nordin, again, came close to freeing a whole stadium, but his shot from the right was deflected by Donovan Léon (120e).
A few moments later, the Auxerre goalkeeper came forward again. Relaxing full length, he managed to stop the first penalty shot from the left foot of Ryad Boudebouz. It will be the only miss by a shooter during the penalty shootout, thus allowing Auxerre to return to the first division, and their coach Jean-Marc Furlan to sign a fifth climb after those of Troyes (2005, 2012, 2015) and Brest (2019).