AS Monaco (ASM) temporarily climbed onto the Ligue 1 podium and plunged Saint-Etienne back into crisis by winning against Geoffroy-Guichard 4-1 on Saturday April 23 in a match interrupted for more than half an hour by jets of smoke.
At the opening of this 34and day of Ligue 1, Lyon had revived its European hopes by beating Montpellier 5-2, in a meeting also marked by clashes with the ultras, who took a dislike to Karl Toko Ekambi, yet passer and scorer.
Far from their glorious past, the Greens are fighting for their survival in the elite. The final defeat against Monaco on Saturday evening leaves them in their place as play-offs and under the threat of sanctions after the excesses of their supporters, yet another episode of this type, this season in Ligue 1.
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Very good Monegasque dynamic
After their 2-2 draw brought back Wednesday from Bordeaux, a direct competitor in maintaining, the Greens paid the price for the very good Monegasque dynamic. The team from the Principality has had a sixth consecutive success and temporarily takes the third step of the podium.
Wissam Ben Yedder scored his 20and goal of the season at the 23rdand minute, imitated two minutes later by Kevin Volland. Wahbi Khazri revived hope from the penalty spot before the break (2-1). But a new own goal by Timothé Kolodziejczak, already at fault against Marseille in early April, gave ASM more room (3-1, 61and).
In the aftermath, many smoke bombs were lit in the stands during this match which marked the 30and anniversary of the ultra group the Green Angels. Some rockets fell on the lawn, causing the referee to stop the game.
The two teams returned to the locker room only to come out after about thirty minutes. Myron Boadu ended ASSE’s nightmarish evening with a fourth goal (4-1, 77and).
Very complicated season for OL
About sixty kilometers from Geoffroy-Guichard, the Lyon rival is also having a very complicated season, but OL are clinging to their dreams of European qualification thanks to their broad 5-2 success against Montpellier.
As often, Peter Bosz’s team offered two faces, squandering a two-goal advantage, before being much more attractive offensively in the second period. Eighth with 52 points, the Lyonnais are momentarily four points behind fifth place.
Despite this precious success, the climate did not warm up between the team and some of its ultra supporters, who took Toko Ekambi to task. After two first goals scored by Moussa Dembélé (27and), then Thiago Mendes, on a free kick, deflected into his own net by goalkeeper Jonas Omlin (43and), OL let Montpellier come back just before the break, thanks in particular to a penalty from Téji Savanier (2-2). Houssem Aouar (63)and) then Toko Ekambi (68and) put Lyon back in front, following two great collective actions.
Conspired after his goal for asking the ultras to be quiet, “KTE”, applauded by other parts of the stadium, offered a decisive pass to Aouar (90 + 2and), who dedicated his second goal to him.
After the meeting, Moussa Dembélé castigated the behavior of a “minority” public :
The attitude of the fans towards us is very disappointing. They are there to support and motivate us. This year, they hurt us a lot with the loss of a point and the elimination on green carpet in the Coupe de France.
Incidents in October
For their part, the supporters of the Saint-Etienne club had already been talked about this season when the kick-off of the match against Angers was delayed by one hour on October 22. Incidents had broken out during the pre-match protocol, several ultras from Saint-Etienne had entered the lawn and sent rockets and other smoke bombs, thus damaging the goal nets, which had to be hastily mended.
Pending the meeting of the Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP), these repeated clashes expose ASSE to heavy sanctions at a time when the poorly ranked club is fighting to save its place in the League. 1.
Similar incidents occurred on Friday in Ligue 2 in Nancy, where the match against Quevilly-Rouen was definitively stopped at 3-0 for the Norman club, after supporters threw smoke bombs to protest against Nancy’s relegation. The Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) must meet urgently on Monday about the match between Nancy and Quevilly.
In Ligue 1, the 2021-2022 season was marred by several incidents, such as the throwing of water bottles during Montpellier-Marseille and Lyon-Marseille (on Dimitri Payet), where the match had been stopped, or even a general fight with invasion of the field in Nice, still against OM.
A field invasion also disrupted the North derby between Lille and Lens (1-0) in September.
