AS Saint-Etienne assured their presence in next season’s Europa League with a 2-0 win over Montpellier Herault on Sunday, as a 1-0 home defeat for Valenciennes against Girondins de Bordeaux consigned them to Ligue 2 action next season.
Les Verts sealed their Europa League place after goals from Romain Hamouma and Mevlut Erding guaranteed them at least a fifth-place finish.
Valenciennes, on 29 points, joined the already relegated AC Ajaccio in failing to preserve their top-flight status after eight years in Ligue 1.
Photo: AFP
Their 21st loss of the campaign left les Atheniens out of reach of fourth-from-bottom Evian Thonon Gaillard, on 38 points, with just two games to play.
In contrast, Sochaux-Montbeliard, the other team in the drop zone, are still in with a major shout of surviving after their 2-0 win over OGC Nice on Sunday, with Jordan Ayew getting the second goal to move les Lionceaux up to 37 points, one adrift of Evian.
In a trick of the fixture list, Sochaux’s last match of the campaign is set to be an explosive encounter against Evian.
Photo: AFP
The game at Valenciennes was played out in a dire atmosphere, with supporters giving their team the silent treatment and Israeli midfielder Maor Melikson missing an early penalty.
Bordeaux scored through fulback Julien Faubert in the 74th to relegate Valenciennes.
“It’s a nightmare,” Valenciennes coach Ariel Jacobs said after the final whistle. “In the dressing room the players are resigned, beaten, it’s not an easy situation.”
In Saint-Etienne, Hamouma put his side ahead in the 48th minute and forward Mevlut Erding made sure of the win in the 57th.
Les Verts need to win their last two matches to stand any chance of overtaking third-placed Lille, who are five points ahead.
However, Hamouma said that settling for fourth place and a Europa League spot is more realistic.
“Finishing fourth is really close to our hearts and we’ll do everything we can to stay there,” he said. “We missed out last season and we don’t want that to happen again.”
In Sunday’s late game, Olympique de Marseille produced one of their best performances of the season, dishing out a 4-2 defeat to multiple former champions Olmpique Lyonnais at the Stade Velodrome.
Goals from Souleymane Diawara, Florian Thauvin and a second-half double from Andre-Pierre Gignac inflicted the damage for the south coast club, who have Marcelo Bielsa signed up to assume managerial control next season.
Centerhalf Diawara and winger Thauvin put Marseille 2-0 up before midfielder Arnold Mvuemba pulled one back for Lyon, only for Gignac to ultimately seal the win with his brace, which took his league tally to 16 goals this season.
Bafetimbi Gomis grabbed a late consolation goal with a clinical finish for his 14th of the campaign.
“We really enjoyed that tonight. We wanted to make up for last season when they beat us 4-1 here,” Marseille winger Andre Ayew said. “Now we have a big game away to [Girondins de] Bordeaux, and it’s been 35 years since Marseille has not won there, so we’re going to have to change that.”
The win moved l’OM up to 56 points into sixth place.
Tomorrow, Paris Saint-Germain will be crowned champions if they beat Stade Rennais, who lost Saturday’s Coupe de France final to En Avant de Guingamp, or if second-placed AS Monaco fail to beat Guingamp the same evening
Elsewhere in Ligue 1 on Sunday, Lorient beat Ajaccio 1-0, Stade de Reims overcame Evian by the same scoreline and Toulouse drew Nantes 1-1.
Reims stayed in eighth place thanks to a first-half goal from midfielder Prince Oniangue, while Evian’s defeat left them just one point above the relegation zone.
Ninth-placed Lorient took the lead through Jeremie Aliadiere in the 18th minute and held on despite having Bruno Ecuele Manga sent off midway through the first half.
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