Video: AS Saint-Étienne relegated from Ligue 1! The fans couldn’t take it and stormed the pitch

Traditional French club AS Saint-Étienne is relegated from Ligue 1. A dramatic barrier match against AJ Auxerre was decided by penalties. While the visiting players ran out to celebrate their promotion, angry Saint-Étienne fans, who are among the best in France, stormed the pitch.

Bordeaux (also a traditional club) and Méty, the penultimate team, were relegated from the French top flight. AS Saint-Étienne finished 18th in Ligue 1 and therefore faced a tricky barrier.

On the other hand, Toulouse (from first place) and AC Ajaccio (from second place) are heading up from Ligue 2. Three other teams went into the barrage, which were Auxerre, Paris FC and Sochaux. The aforementioned Auxerre made it through to the barrage final.

Auxerre hosted the opening final and the upset was far from over. The first match between AJA (Auxerre’s nickname) and Saint-Étienne ended in a 1-1 draw.

AS Saint-Étienne went into the second match as slight favourites. However, the half-time tie ended in a goalless draw, but shortly after half-time came a shock! Sakhi’s goal gave the visitors a 1:0 lead.

In the 76th minute, however, the home side’s Mahdi Camara equalised at 1:1 and the match headed into extra time, but it didn’t offer any goals, so it went to penalties.

Saint-Étienne failed to convert their first attempt, but Auxerre’s shooters made no mistake and are back among the French elite after 19 years.

Wild in Saint-Étienne

But what happened immediately after the penalties? See for yourself!

An expert on French football on the social network Twitter wrote a thread on the whole event, summarizing other interesting circumstances of AS Saint-Étienne’s relegation.

“With the relegation of ASSE, Ligue 1 loses perhaps the best atmosphere in the league. The ASSE fans have long been among Europe’s best and the big games at the Guichard always had an incredible atmosphere. Now, unfortunately, there will be very few of them.”

“And to make matters worse for ASSE fans, the club management has just announced that ASSE will soon be officially transferred to new owners. Which wouldn’t be such a problem in itself, but the club is to be bought by David Blitzer, owner of Crystal Palace or Augsburg. The legendary club will thus apparently become part of a “multi-club” structure, which logically the ASSE fan scene will bite very hard.”

Source: Livesport, Mirror Football, French Football