France

Ligue 1

Saturday 1st March 2025

Kick Off 17.00 On Time!

Association Sportive Saint-Etienne 1 Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice 3, attendance 30,070

10’ 0-1

32’ 1-1

50’ 1-2

70’ 1-3

@ Stade Geoffroy-Guichard

14 Rue Paul et Pierre Guichard

42000 Saint-Etienne

€33 Admission + €1 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket.

No Programme.

A late decision, with flights and hotel not booked until Thursday evening, saw us on the 0820 EasyJet flight yesterday morning from London Gatwick to Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region of France, for a short break based in the city of Lyon. For today’s game it was a 55 minute train ride south-west from Lyon to Saint-Etienne Chateaucreux station, which cost €27.60 return, with a 25 minute walk to the stadium from there.

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, named after the founder of the Casino retail group, who purchased the land it occupies, was built in 1930, opening the following year, undergoing a number of renovations over the intervening years and now has an all seated capacity of 41,965. It has hosted games in the European Championships (1984 and 2016) and World Cup (1998), as well as games in the 2024 Summer Olympics football tournament and 2023 Rugby Union World Cup.

Saint-Etienne have won 10 Ligue 1 titles and are six times Coupe de France winners, but their glory days were back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, a period that also saw them reach the 1976 European Cup Final, where they lost to Bayern Munchen. They are struggling to avoid relegation this season, coming into this third bottom in the league table, one above the automatic drop zone, whilst today’s visitors Nice are very much in the running for a Champions League place, sitting third in the table, just three points adrift of second placed Olympique Marseille, but both well adrift of leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

Nice were ahead after just ten minutes, when a cross from the right was met with a first time shot, that was initially saved by the ‘keeper, but followed in with a header that went in off the underside of the crossbar. The goal was greeted by near silence. The visitors section of the stadium was completely empty and there was no evidence of them having any support in the home areas either. Saint-Etienne equalised just after the half hour mark, when the ball was worked in from the right, before being pulled back across the six yard box and easily finished from eight yards out. The home fans were absolutely superb, creating one of the best atmospheres I’ve witnessed anywhere, even after going behind so early and their backing for the team was relentless, despite them not having too much to cheer, as Nice looked far more dangerous and were producing the better goal scoring chances. Nice were back in front five minutes into the second half, when a corner from the right was touched in at the near post. Twenty minutes from the end they added a third goal, when a ball across the 18 yard box was finished first time into the bottom corner and they also hit the crossbar late on following a quick breakaway, as they cruised to an easy win, with the hosts never really looking like getting back into it. Even worse for them, Le Havre won tonight, which saw them climb out of the bottom two, leaving Saint-Etienne in their place.

After the game it was an easy walk back to the station, in plenty of time to catch the 20.03 train back to Lyon.