Ligue 1, 38th day – Saint-Etienne will play the play-off, Metz and Bordeaux officially relegated to Ligue 2

Pascal Dupraz can always win his bet and keep Saint-Étienne in the top flight. Penultimate at the start of this 38th day, ASSE managed in extremis to snatch the place of play-off thanks to its draw in Nantes (1-1), this Saturday evening. The Greens dislodged Metz, heavily beaten in Paris (5-0) and sentenced to direct relegation. Just like Bordeaux, winner for the honor in Brest (2-4).

Nantes – Saint-Etienne: 1-1

As if by a miracle, Saint-Etienne once again extended its extreme desire to stay in Ligue 1. Forced to hang on to a result at La Beaujoire to hope to snatch the place of play-off in place of Metz, the Greens gradually retreated and suffered the speed and technique of the Nantes attacking trio. On an acceleration in the area, Ludovic Blas (23rd, sp) collapsed to obtain and transform himself the sentence of relegation into reality.

A clear and clean stop for the Greens cradled between their feverishness and the fear of Nantes counter-attacks. Only Denis Bouanga, alone (16th, 40th) or for Romain Hamouma (63rd), managed to create danger in the Nantes camp.

Too little then to change the result, especially when Paul Bernardoni turned into the ultimate savior of the Greens (48th, 65th). But on a cross that came out of nowhere, the Bouanga detonator found the veteran Hamouma (79th) to save Saint-Etienne temporarily from the gates of Ligue 2 and overtake Metz on the wire in the standings. A new survival operation is therefore already posted. It will be against Auxerre next Thursday for a round-trip barrage which again promises to be explosive.

PSG-Metz: 5-0

Having become a roadblocker last weekend, Metz therefore had his destiny in his hands when he went to challenge PSG at the Parc des Princes. To snatch even one point would have been quite a feat. But the Garnets hardly had time to believe it. Unleashed in the wake of the announcement of his contract extension, Kylian Mbappé offered himself a hat-trick (25th, 28th, 50th).

Neymar (31st) and Angel Di Maria (67th), for his last appearance in the Parisian jersey, also hurt a desperate Metz defense. Despite the expulsion of Boubacar Traoré (58th), Frédéric Antonetti’s men stopped the bleeding and believed they could keep their 18th place. But Romain Hamouma and the Stéphanois decided otherwise. The Moselle club will therefore play in Ligue 2 next season.

Brest-Bordeaux: 2-4

The good harvest this weekend was not enough to keep Bordeaux in Ligue 1. It’s only a half-surprise, but the Girondins are officially down tonight, a first since 1991. What’s the fault? To all these goals conceded throughout this 2021-2022 French Championship: 91 in 38 days, a total far too catastrophic to hope to remain at the best national level.

Tonight, David Guion’s men conceded two more goals… but once is not custom, they managed to score twice as many. Ricardo Mangas opened the scoring (13th, 0-1), then Steve Mounié answered him in stride (15th, 1-1). Once again, the Bordelais took the lead thanks to Sekou Mara (32nd, 1-2), but Youcef Belaïli allowed his team to equalize before the break (34th, 2-2).

In the second half, Bordeaux took shelter from a new return from Finistère with two goals in three minutes signed Mara (72nd, 2-3) and Javaîro Dilrosun (75th, 2-4). Too late, Bordeaux was already in the red with the draw won by AS Saint-Etienne against Nantes. Bordeaux, six times champion of France in its history, leaves Ligue 1 on a good note. Small consolation…