Les Poteaux Carrés: Sainté's European night, 50 years on
Ahead of tomorrow's Champions League final, we look back at "Les Poteaux Carrés" and AS Saint-Étienne's run to the final of the 1976 tournament, 50 years on.
A dominant force in France
While Paris Saint-Germain are set to feature in their third Champions League final in seven years tomorrow, French teams in the final of the tournament were a rare occurrence for much of its early history. After Stade de Reims played in the inaugural final in 1956 and again in 1959 (losing both times to Real Madrid), for the next thirty years, only one team reached the final before Olympique de Marseille did so twice in three years -- AS Saint-Étienne in 1976.
Les Verts were the dominant team of the French top flight in the 1970s -- a team led by manager Robert Herbin won eight of thirteen league titles on offer between 1964 and 1976, as well as capturing the Coupe de France five times. With legendary players like Hervé Revelli (who scored more than 300 goals for the club across two spells), defender Christian Lopez and Jacques Santini, Sainté made an impact on France like no team had since the aforementioned Reims.
Photo du jour 📸
1976 - Les supporters stéphanois lors de la finale de C1 entre Saint-Etienne et le Bayern Munich à Hampden Park. 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/DtlySzu2o1— Le Corner (@Le_Corner_) April 6, 2021
Heartbreak at Hampden Park
Despite their domestic success, though, they struggled to make inroads in Europe. In a period in which Ajax and Bayern Munich dominated, Les Verts found it hard to break through the proverbial glass ceiling. That was, until the 1975/6 season. Sainté cruised past the overmatched Danish champions KB in the first round, before beating Rangers home and away to reach the quarterfinals. Against a Dynamo Kiev side featuring the great Oleg Blohkin, Sainté lost the first leg away 2-0, before winning at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, with a Dominique Rocheteau goal in extra time settling the tie.
After overcoming PSV Eindhoven in the semifinals, Sainté were heading back to Scotland to face the mighty Bayern Munich at Hampden Park in Glasgow. That Bayern side, featuring the likes of Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer, would edge them in excruciating fashion, with Les Verts hitting the woodwork twice before losing 1-0, inspiring the axiom that had the goalposts been round rather than square or "carré" -- Sainté would have become the first French side to have been crowned European champions.
Fifty years on, the match's historical and social impact can't be understated, as thousands of the club's supporters flooded the streets of Glasgow before the match. Despite the devastating loss on the evening, the occasion still stands as the club's proudest moment, the team having even purchased the infamous goalposts and installed them in their club museum.
