AJ Auxerre took first place in the Ligue 2 standings on Saturday after their masterful victory against Ajaccio (2-0), while awaiting the rest of the 18th day in the evening. In the other match of the afternoon, between two former glories of French football, Bordeaux and Saint-Étienne, neutralized each other 0-0.
At the Abbé-Deschamps stadium, the Burgundians perfectly controlled the match against the Corsicans who were cornered in their half and reduced to ten men after the expulsion of Maxime Chanot (for a second yellow card) at the very end of the first half. -time. Gauthier Hein stood out with a double scored in the first period (18th and 29th). Lonely in the area, the midfielder first finished from the left a cross from Lassine Sinayoko. He did it again twenty minutes later with a shot into the side net following a counter-attack initiated by Brazilian defender Jubal and relayed once again by Sinayoko.
With this success, Auxerre totals 35 points and dethrones Angers (34 pts) who must react on the Troyes field on Saturday evening. Laval (33 pts) and Pau (29), respectively 3rd and 4th and which meet in the South-West, are also on the lookout.
These top-of-the-table issues do not concern Bordeaux or Saint-Étienne. These two monuments, with 16 French championship titles between them, offered a boring first act, interrupted by numerous mistakes. As if liberated upon returning from the locker room, the two teams then showed themselves more dynamic in a well-stocked Matmut Atlantique stadium. The Girondins came up against a regrouped Saint-Etienne defense and an impassable Gautier Larsonneur. Bordeaux’s Polish goalkeeper Rafal Straczek, for his part, was able to intervene in the – too rare – ASSE counter-offensives.
Thanks to this draw, the Greens, who had five consecutive defeats in the championship, remain in eighth place (25 pts). The Bordelais remain 17th (19 pts), tied on points with the promoted Concarneau (16th), which will challenge its Breton neighbor Guingamp (7th) on Saturday.
