Before the match, the duel promised to be balanced between two teams who had the same number of points (10). But the promoted Lensois, in the continuity of his start to the season, offered himself without forcing too much this Saturday a new success against the big name of the championship, after his successes against Paris and Bordeaux.
What you must remember
The summer of the Lensois, marked by their spectacular victory against PSG, had been exciting. Fall begins on the same note for the promoted. Sharper, the Sang et Or took the lead from the first minutes thanks to a penalty from Kakuta (15th). After resorting to video refereeing, the Stéphanois Kolodziejzack, first warned, was finally sent off for his tackle which caused Ganago’s injury (a probable sprain).
The Lensois then retained this advantage by showing themselves to be more enterprising, like the double opportunity of Banza and Sotoca (46th). The latter formalized the victory of his family at the end of the match by scoring with a header from a corner the first goal of his career in Ligue 1 (81st). The Northerners have 13 points in 6 six days and temporarily climb to 2nd place in Ligue 1 while Saint-Etienne is 7th before the matches this Sunday.
Fact of the match: the Greens finish at 9
Without ideas this Saturday, the Stéphanois were not helped by their lack of discipline. By finding themselves outnumbered very early in the match, Claude Puel’s men suffered from northerner domination in the first period. Entered at the break, Khazri, for his first game of the season, only remained on the pitch for about twenty minutes. Sent off after an uncontrolled tackle, he let his people finish the game 9 against 11.
The player: Gaël Kakuta
He is the real technical leader of this team. Positioned as leader behind two attackers, the Congolese international turns into a specialist in penalties. He deceived Jessy Moulin (15th) to score his 4th goal of the season in this exercise.
He could have delivered an assist on a free kick to Medina, but the video refereeing decided otherwise (offside, 20th). The Stéphanois have failed to block his deviations. Concern, however, his exit from injury in the 70th minute, after a blow to the thigh.
