Match Reports
Recap: Les Verts grab first win under Eirik Horneland (3-1)
In Eirik Horneland's first match on the Saint-Etienne bench, Les Verts overcame Reims at Stade Geoffroy Guichard (3-1). If the Stéphanois side was sat in a difficult position at the start of 2025 with one of the worst records in attack and goals conceded, the arrival of their new manager gave the squad a fresh start going into the new year.
With just one goal scored in their last four league games, Luka Elsner's Reims have been struggling offensively of late, but they would go on to open the scoring via their trusty Japanese international Keito Nakamura. striker received a cross deflected by Appiah and finished off in front of Larsonneur from close range (42'). Yet, Sainté would get themselves back into the game just after the break and it would be Boakye that finished for his first-ever goal in Ligue 1 McDonald's and ASSE colours. Mickaël Nadé made a superb break down the left before delivering a low cross that was met by Boakye to finish into the back of the net (50'). It would get even better for the host just minutes later, with Boakye grabbing his second goal and a brace.
Thrust deep on the right side, Stassin executed a two-on-one perfectly and found Boakye - and the Ghanaian sent a right-footed strike into the top corner past Diouf inside the box (57'). In a matter of seconds ASSE managed to turn the game around, but Les Verts weren't happy with that. Stassin would then go from provider to scorer himself. The Belgian provided a stunning finish after breaking down the right side, shifting past Kipré and providing a perfectly struck chipped effort past Diouf (80). Les Verts completed a comeback and grabbed an important three points at home to rise to 14th place.
THE STAT: THE FIRST
Erik Horneland is the 1st St Etienne coach to start his tenure with a Ligue 1 success since Claude Puel on October 6, 2019 (1-0 v Lyon). Henryk Kasperczak is the only other coach to have started on the Verts bench while seeing his team score at least 3 goals in an L1 match, that was on August 5, 1986 (3-3 at Sochaux).
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