RAF: Rodez, eliminated in Saint-Étienne, will not move to Ligue 1

“We didn’t have a great game against the quality play of a great Saint-Étienne team who put us under pressure throughout the game,” lamented Ruthenia coach Didier Santini after his players’ exit in the L2 play-off final. .

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“Technically we also missed out because we weren’t effective in front of the Saint-Etienne goal.” Indeed, the Greens played a benchmark game announced at the best moment of their season. The RAF did not have the wherewithal to resist this pressure, especially in their clearances, which were too often thwarted by the Greens’ desire to advance towards the opposition player. “We lacked spark,” Didier Santini added. Let’s then remember all the efforts, mental and physical, made against Paris FC last Tuesday, which burdened the Ruthenian game in Forez.

The intensity of Saint-Etienne

During the first half, the Greens scored 17 times on Aveyron’s goal. All those shots were off target, but when they were, decisive interventions were needed from Rouergat goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen. We are especially referring to the decisive intervention of the latter, who quickly fell to the ground to deflect Sissoko’s shot (32). The RAF was too cautious during this first period to make Stéphanois tremble.

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After the restart, Jaouen jumped up again to collect the ball from Pétrot (47′), then deflected Chambost’s free-kick onto his crossbar before the ball went into the corner (59′). Ruthenois responded with a free kick that was hit by Haag and Larsonneur (62nd) barely cleared from his top corner.

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With no time to breathe, Danger saved Saint-Etienne’s ball on his own line a few seconds later. And what had to happen happened… Chambost’s cross found Cardona’s head, beat the defender Raux-Yao, and Jaouen could only watch as the ball flew into the net (1-0, 64th). Ruthenois missed an equalizer through Corredor, failing to take advantage of a hand error by Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Larsonneur (70). Rodez’s chances to return to the tie just disappeared because Mbuku scored the second goal at the very end of the game (2-0, 90+6), which secured Metz a place in the L1 play-off.

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The last word went to Didier Santini: “I want to congratulate my players on their season, we will meet with the players individually to discuss the future and then start from scratch for the new Ligue 2 season.”