Auxerre hold on for precious point against Strasbourg
In a gripping encounter that ultimately ended scoreless, hosts AJ Auxerre held off an ambitious RC Strasbourg on Saturday evening at the Stade-Abbé-Deschamps. Catch up on the latest with our match report.
A diminished Strasbourg from the off
Just three days after their Coupe de France win over Stade de Reims and a few days before their trip to face Rijeka in the Europa Conference League, RC Strasbourg made several changes for this match. Manager Gary O'Neil would be without the injured Diego Moreira, and he also left regulars Joaquín Panichelli and Valentín Barco on the bench, while Guéla Doué was a last-minute absentee owing toillness. In their places, he handed first league starts to January arrivals David Datro Fofana and Gessime Yassine, the latter having impressed with a man of the match performance in the Coupe midweek.
The start of the match suffered none from these absences, though, and indeed Fofana was nearly in on goal with just three minutes gone, only for the offside flag to go up. Julio Enciso then flashed a shot narrowly wide (14'), but the hosts would respond through Josué Casimir, who forced Mike Penders into a diving save (16'). Just after the half hour, Casimir would again test Penders, before the flashpoint of the first half, as Lassine Sinayoko thought he had a penalty (39'), but was rewarded with only a corner, leaving the match level at the interval.
A goalless draw between Auxerre and Strasbourg. 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/KFW08A4kj2
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) March 7, 2026
A lively second half but both 'keepers impress
The match continued to boil in the second half, but Penders and his opposite number, Donovan Léon, both stood strong. On 52 minutes, the Alsatians were even perhaps lucky not to have conceded, as a bit of slack play at the back saw the ball come off Penders' post. On the hour, VAR was asked to look at a potential penalty, but it was waved off for offside. O'Neil would then make a triple change, bringing on Panichelli, Barco and Sebastian Nanasi, who would kick the match's level up, the latter two both forcing Léon into saves within five minutes of coming on.
With five minutes left in normal time, Penders would then take his turn to be decisive, keeping out Danny Namaso from close range. That would be the match's final chance, as Auxerre will be proud of a hard-fought point while Racing will rue a chance not to make up ground in the race for Europe, as they now sit four points back of Monaco in fifth, with Lille and Rennes still to play this weekend.
