Football. Monaco and OM in the stars, fields invaded... the 33rd day of Ligue 1 in one click
Two heavyweights in the Champions League next year, a lot of tension and emotion in the stands, Angers saving their lives, Nantes on borrowed time and Saint-Etienne still breathing... find the main news from Saturday evening in Ligue 1.
AS Monaco is the French club to have most frequently finished on the podium in Ligue 1, having achieved this feat 31 times.
The Monegasque team secured their place in the top three of the championship on Saturday evening by dominating Lyon (2-0).
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"OM is where it belongs in the Champions League. It's easier to say now that the goal has been achieved, but we've never lost sight of it. We've been working towards it since the start of the season. When you achieve this kind of goal, it's a great source of pride. Now we're going to enjoy it."
Marseille's Valentin Rongier, speaking to DAZN
Paris Saint-Germain, largely revamped after qualifying for the Champions League final, won (4-1) on the pitch of Montpellier, already relegated to Ligue 2. Starting at kick-off, Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos scored a hat-trick in sixteen minutes ( 49th , 59th sp and 65th ). The Parisian striker now has ten goals in Ligue 1 this season, in only 21 matches. He is now just one goal away from his total from last season (11 goals in 29 matches). On the final matchday, PSG will host Auxerre. Will the Portuguese take advantage of this to equal or even surpass his goal record? The answer will be on Saturday evening.
Sipa Infographics. Click to zoom
Marseille fans, watching TV, had to wait a little longer than others to see their team qualify for the next Champions League. The reason? The match between the Olympians and Le Havre, at the Stade Océane, was interrupted for about thirty minutes, while Marseille was leading 1-0, after incidents in the stands. Shortly after the hour mark and Amine Gouiri 's opening goal for OM, a fight broke out on a corner next to the Le Havre stadium, and several dozen spectators left the stands to seek shelter. Referee Willy Delajod immediately stopped the match (in the 64th minute) and sent the players back to the locker room. The Le Havre kapo (head of the stadium), Mehdi Dupuis, took the microphone to call for calm, and the spectators returned to their original stands. The match was finally able to resume after a security cordon was deployed in front of the stand where the incidents started.
They got a little carried away... while the match between OM and Le Havre was far from over after the incidents in the stands, the Angers fans began to celebrate their team's survival by invading the pitch at the Raymond-Kopa stadium. Everything could still have gone against them... but luckily for them, Marseille ultimately won at the Stade Océane.
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A defeat at the worst possible time. Undefeated in Ligue 1 since February 2 (12 consecutive matches), Strasbourg lost (2-1) Saturday night away to Angers. Sixth before the 33rd matchday, Racing hasn't lost any place in the history books but has seen the podium slip away definitively. Esteban Lepaul, who scored twice for SCO, sowed doubt in Strasbourg's minds. Because the Alsatians will have to pull out all the stops when they host Le Havre next week.
Although Strasbourg has as many points as Nice ( 4th ) and Lille ( 5th ), the goal difference (+13 for Strasbourg, +15 for Lille and +19 for Nice) does not play in its favor. It is up to Dilane Bakwa - who scored another goal on Saturday in Angers - and his teammates to bounce back and finish in style.
Thanks to their victory on the Reims pitch (2-0) on Saturday evening , Saint-Etienne did not say goodbye to Ligue 1, but will not have their destiny in their own hands on the final day of the championship next weekend. At the end of the 33rd day, the Greens remain seventeenth (30 points), but are back to one point of Le Havre, beaten at home by Marseille (1-3), and retain a chance of stealing the play-off place from them next Saturday. The Stéphanois are not, however, masters of their destiny: it will be imperative to win at home against Toulouse, while hoping that Le Havre do not win in Strasbourg.
Nice may be left to mull things over for a long time. Beaten 2-0 away to Rennes, who have nothing left to play for in Ligue 1 this season, the Aiglons missed the opportunity to get back on track on Saturday evening. A brace from Arnaud Kalimuendo dented Nice's ambitions, as they remain in 4th place on goal difference. To hope to secure a ticket, at least for the third round of qualifying for the next Champions League, Franck Haise's men will need to win against Brest in a week.
Brest, in fact, played a nasty trick on Lille on Saturday by winning (2-0) against the Dogues. The Bretons, who have nothing left to play for in the league, also prevented the Northerners from staying in touch with Marseille and Monaco, two teams already assured of the podium. To continue believing in a Champions League qualification, LOSC will therefore have to strike hard when they host Reims next Saturday.
L'Alsace
