An hour in favour of Les Verts

The context

After a 1-1 draw at Le Havre last Sunday, Les Verts now travel to bottom club Montpellier for a match that is likely to be crucial in the race for survival.

The XI

When the line-up was announced, only one difference stood out compared to the previous weekend's XI: Florian Tardieu replaced Benjamin Bouchouari. But in the end, the young Moroccan did start the match, in response to Aïmen Moueffek's last-minute withdrawal during the warm-up.

👥 Le XI stéphanois pour #MHSCASSE ! 🔜🆚 pic.twitter.com/FQ9dxNFNvh

— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) March 16, 2025

The game

The home side lit the first fuse through Savanier. But the red-and-blue captain's effort found its way into the path of Gautier Larsonneur (5'). In response, Florian Tardieu took his chance from outside the area within a minute. His neat ball was headed towards the top corner, but Lecomte pulled off a superb save to turn it away for a corner (6'). Lucas Stassin was then cleverly set up by Irvin Cardona, hooked the ball past his opposite number and then beat the Montpellier keeper from outside the area with the help of the post to open the scoring (Montpellier 0-1 ASSE, 11th). A few moments later, the same duo were in action in the penalty area, but the striker's shot went wide (19th). At the other end, Delort tried to lob the keeper with a header from a free-kick, but his effort went wide (25th). After a few minutes without any clear-cut chances, Pierre Ekwah took his chance from 25 metres out and forced Lecomte to relax to divert a shot past his post and into the net (40'). After Léo Pétrot had pulled off a superb defensive save with his trademark tackle on Coulibaly's counter-attack (40'), Les Vertes pressed forward. Benjamin Bouchouari's shot was blocked and then Irvin Cardona's shot was off target (44th). Seconds before half-time, Maxime Bernauer was guilty of a second foul for which he was shown a second yellow card and sent off.

Eirik Horneland replaced Benjamin Bouchouari with Yunis Abdelhamid to start the second half shorthanded. Savanier's cross-shot forced ‘Larso’ to concede a corner, which came to nothing for MHSC (48th). On the counter-attack, Lucas Stassin finished with a shot that was unfortunately saved by Lecomte. That was not to be the case with the next shot. Served up deep by Zuriko Davitashvili, the Belgian striker made light work of the Hérault defence to score the goal of the break (Montpellier 0-2 ASSE, 53rd). This proved too much for some MHSC supporters, who threw smoke bombs onto the pitch and brought the match to an initially temporary halt. After more than 30 minutes of stoppage time, the match was declared definitively stopped by a decision of the Hérault Prefecture.

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Next

While Les Verts await the outcome of Matchday 26 of McDonald's Ligue 1, Eirik Horneland and his men are enjoying an international break. Their next match will be at the Chaudron, this time against the undisputed league leaders, Paris Saint-Germain.