AS Saint-Etienne : The green people set fire to the Chaudron after the qualification of Saint-Etienne in the final of the Coupe de France | ASSE News

Supporters from Saint-Étienne invaded the lawn by the thousands from the final whistle. – PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP

  • ASSE qualified for the final of the Coupe de France by beating Stade Rennais (2-1) in a boiling Cauldron.
  • From the final whistle, thousands of Stéphanois supporters invaded the lawn of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.
  • For the majority of supporters, too young to have known the golden decade of the 70’s, this will be an opportunity to erase years of frustration – despite the 2013 League Cup – and to try to take revenge on the last final French Cup lost to PSG in 1982.

At the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium (Saint-Etienne),

And all of a sudden, the Cauldron started to boil! The crowd movement was as sudden as it was spontaneous. In the second following the final whistle – and therefore a minute after the saving goal of Boudebouz – a human tide breaking from the four corners of the stadium invaded the lawn of Geoffroy-Guichard.

A gigantic clamor then sounded, before seeing the players from Saint-Etienne return very quickly to the field, at the entrance of the tunnel, to celebrate their qualification for the final with their supporters. “We wanted to bring this audience to the Stade de France, he deserves it. They are still behind us, ”reacted Timothée Kolodziejczak in the mixed zone after the match.

A human tide began to surge on the lawn to celebrate the qualification of the Greens.
A human tide began to surge on the lawn to celebrate the qualification of the Greens. – M. Pavard / 20 Minutes

Of course, there will remain an obstacle, and not the least, to hope to bring back to Forez a Cup of France fleeing
AS Saint-Etienne since 1977. But this Thursday evening, the green people did not care, only counted this heroic victory won against the Rennes title holder.

A boiling atmosphere from the start

The generation of current supporters has indeed not often been at such a party. Their parents and grandparents lived through the heyday of the Greens, from the Glasgow square posts to legendary matches against Dynamo Kiev and PSV Eindhoven, including the shovels of champion titles from France in the 1960s and 1970. But these twenty-somethings, thirties and quadras, all too young to have known the golden age of ASSE, had only one trophy to put in their mouths than
League Cup in 2013.

So naturally, ultras and Stéphanois supporters took the bull by the horns to create a boiling and incandescent atmosphere from the start. Giant tifos, songs responding from one kop to another, drums, constant pressure on the Rennes… Magic Fans and Green Angels lived up to their reputation and that of Geoffroy-Guichard. A cauldron that, even three-quarters full (32,000 spectators with a capacity of about 42,000 seats) – a weekday game requires -, remains such a special stadium.

The 1982 revenge against PSG, a nice wink of fate

“With all these people, these magnificent tifos, this atmosphere, we could not lose, it was not possible”, underlined the young central defender William Saliba, in mixed zone. For the green people, this ticket to the Stade de France is a breath of fresh air in the middle of a terribly depressing season. But it’s also a nice wink of fate and the end of decades of frustration. Because without offending the League Cup, his venerable rival has another prestige.

38 years ago, on May 15, 1982, ASSE disputed and lost its last final of the Coupe de France. And the opponent was already called Paris Saint-Germain. A double of
Platini had responded to the opening of Paris’s score by Toko, but ironically, it was ex-Stéphanois Rocheteau who equalized in the last minute of extra time. Unfortunately for Saint-Etienne, the last gift offered to the Greens by Platoche, then departing for Juve, was not enough. The penalty shootout turned in favor of PSG, which thus deflated its record.

If the majority of the thousands of ASSE supporters who will garnish the spans of the Stade de France have no memory of the 1982 precedent, the oldest will appreciate this reunion. And for the youngest, nothing like a good revenge against the Parisian ogre to add a small dose of spice to an already very spicy match.