The main thing was finally played elsewhere this Saturday evening.
Not at the Meinau stadium where Clermont Foot lost 1-0 to Strasbourg, but at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, the cauldron of Saint-Etienne. The 37th day of Ligue 1 was therefore marked by the defeat of the Auvergne but also – and above all – by the defeat of Saint-Etienne at home against Reims which allows the promoted Auvergne to stay in Ligue 1 one day before the end of the championship.
Successful “maintenance mission”
In the standings, the Clermontois are 16th with 36 points, one point ahead of Lorient 17th and 5 over Metz 18th.
Successful “maintenance mission” for Pascal Gastien’s men: “it’s a relief, we’re all going to savor it together. I’m not going to say it’s a feat, but not far anyway. Rightly, everyone saw us going down with the smallest budget. We had a season with ups and downs. I did not know Ligue 1, we could have panicked but we remained stable. We’ve been playing like this for five years, it would have been suicidal to change the way we play. The club’s project is to be part of the long term, in the game. It’s not me who would let go at this level. We are rewarded, we run away with 36 points but I don’t care. We had nothing to lose this season and everything to gain. We tried to do our best, we played, we won, we lost, we got robbed from time to time. We still have steps to take. I learn, I record and I hope that we will continue to move forward.”
The last match of the Ligue 1 season for Clermont will be played at the Gabriel Montpied stadium on Saturday evening (9 p.m.) against Lyon. A gala match that the Auvergne will be able to enjoy after their exploit.