more than ever, Saint-Etienne is aiming to return to Ligue 1

The 34th day of Ligue 2 football takes place on Tuesday April 23. While AJ Auxerre, leader, hosts Laval, third in the ranking, Saint-Étienne travels to Grenoble. The people of Stéphane can dream of a return to the elite.

After a difficult start to the season, Saint-Étienne has started a spectacular comeback three months ago. Saturday evening, the Stéphanois signed a new success at home against the Girondins de Bordeaux, scoring two goals in added time. This is not trivial, believes the Greens coach, Olivier Dall’Oglio: “This kind of victory will unite us even more. I know we will need this mental strength.” In the standings, Saint-Étienne is one point behind Angers and four points behind Auxerre. Only the first two will go directly back to Ligue 1.

“Do not go through the roadblocks”

Saint-Etienne captain and defender Anthony Briançon does not hide his ambitions: “We are third, there are five games left. If we don’t believe in it, we have to stop playing football. We are going to leave our lives on the pitch to try to bring this club back to Ligue 1.” A club with ten French championship titles and six Coupe de France titles, AS Saint-Étienne was relegated two years ago.

Greens supporters hope that the Ligue 2 bracket is about to be closed. “I think we will now move up to the first division. I hope so !”, one enthuses. “We hope for a direct return, not going through the dams because it’s going to be complicated.” adds another. A sign of the mobilization of Saint-Etienne supporters, as in the last two home matches, the final two matches of the season at Geoffroy-Guichard, against Caen and Rodez, will be played behind closed doors.