AS Saint-Etienne : OL – ASSE: “A derby behind closed doors is like a pasteurized Camembert: disgusting and tasteless” | ASSE News

This is a point that finally puts them in agreement. The irreconcilable neighbors from Saint-Etienne and Lyon come together on the emptiness of a derby without enduring. A Lyon – Saint-Etienne in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and in front of empty stands, it is a total and absolute negation of everything that makes the very essence and the particularity of this meeting. “The derby behind closed doors, it’s absolutely unimaginable, it’s football at its saddest“, assures us François, 36 years of loyalty to the Greens, a great regular at the South stand before the pandemic.

“It makes you wonder if it’s worth playing, replied the Bad Gones, Flavien. When we think of derby, we think of banners, we think of atmosphere, we think of communion, we think of tifo. There, we will have what? Dead silence and coaches yelling at their players. Frankly, even if we win, it won’t have the same value at all.“A feeling shared by Thierry, member of the OL Canuts who sums up the situation with a certain sense of the phrase:”A derby behind closed doors is like a pasteurized Camembert: it’s disgusting and tasteless.“

If there is a meeting in Ligue 1 that shines first by its environment, it is this derby. “In 76, it was your feet that were square“,”OL is like Beaujolais: commercial and disgusting“, Fekir who presents his jersey to Geoffroy-Guichard after his recital, Janot who plays Gerland wearing an AC Milan jersey a few days after the elimination of OL in C1 by the Italians: the confrontation between the two enemies in particular that we remember as much what happens on the field as outside.

The derby is first and foremost a folklore. “It’s 30% sporting issues and 70% rooming, little stories and regional demands, continues François. If we remove the supporters, either the salt and the reason for the derby, it becomes an anonymous L1 match, a vulgar Saint-Etienne – Bordeaux.“Especially since the two teams do not really play in the same category and find themselves, on the other hand, in direct competition for regional hegemony.

It is a tension that rises all week until the explosion on Sunday evening in the din of a stadium filled to the brim. No matter the rankings, no matter the sporting situations, no matter the players. The ceremonial is always the same… except this year. “There is absolutely no pressure build-up, testifies Paul Rivolier, journalist for the site En vert et contre tous. The health context does not help of course but the enthusiasm is zero. There is nothing that makes you say it will be war on Sunday.“

Only a banner in the Etrat planted by the supporters of the Greens (“No room for error, respect our colors“) remind the players of their homework. But, confinement requires, they will not be able to accompany the departure of the bus to support theirs one last time. If the meeting will lose its interest on Sunday, it already no longer has the same flavor these recent years since visiting supporters no longer have citizenship at Geoffroy-Guichard or at Groupama Stadium.

“Me, I liked to see the Stéphanois arriving in our stadium, I liked to feel their pride and ours, remembers Thierry. It galvanized us. And then, I liked to see the distress in their eyes during our victories. And it had to be the same on their side.“This year, everyone will watch the sad spectacle in front of their television. And Flavien laments:”We’ll see if I have the heart to turn it on.“