Down to ten men, the Greens suffer heavy defeat in Annecy

Contexte

Disappointed by their last performance, which ended in a defeat against Le Mans (2-3) at Geoffroy-Guichard, Les Verts travel to the Parc des Sports, FC Annecy's renovated home ground, which will be inaugurated on Saturday evening. In front of 13,699 fans, including 2,500 from Saint-Étienne, the Savoyards hope to build on their victory in Clermont (0-1) despite the absence of their starting goalkeeper, Escales, and Pajot, the former Saint-Étienne player.

Starting XI

Without Chico Lamba (injured) and Maxime Bernauer (suspended), Les Verts' coach has had to adapt his defensive line-up. Dylan Batubinsika will partner Mickaël Nadé in central defense, while Joao Ferreira returns to the right flank. The midfield and front line remain unchanged.

👤 Le XI stéphanois pour #FCAASSE ! 💚

Coup d’envoi dans une heure tout pile ! 👊 pic.twitter.com/nbHApiZaB5

— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) October 25, 2025

Le match

The game got off to a bad start for Les Verts. After a few minutes of observation to their advantage, they saw Tiendrebeogo alert Gautier Larsonneur, who pushed the ball away with both fists (5th minute), but the respite was short-lived. Immediately afterwards, Billemaz passed to Larose at the far post to open the scoring (0-1, 6th minute). Zuriko Davitshvili thought he had put ASSE back on track, but his goal was disallowed for offside (8th minute). Annecy came close to doubling their lead thanks to a near-decisive pass from Billemaz, but Dylan Batubinsika intercepted (9th minute)! Saint-Étienne then found themselves a man down after Igor Miladinovic was sent off (13') for a foul on Billemaz. After Laros broke into the box, Billemaz had a golden opportunity to extend the lead, but the Annecy midfielder's shot hit the side netting (24'). Before the break, Les Verts had a chance to equalize when Lucas Stassin was sent deep by Zuriko Davitashvili (43rd minute), but Callens won the duel. The score remained unchanged after 45 minutes of play.

After the break, Saint-Étienne were the first to threaten, with Lucas Stassin going one-on-one after being fouled by Callens in the box, but Karim Abed failed to blow his whistle (53'). Annecy, calm thanks to their numerical advantage, took advantage of the situation to double their lead through Paris (2-0, 67') before pulling away thanks to Ben Hamed (3-0, 71') who pounced on the ball after Gautier Larsonneur's save from Venot's header. Eirik Horneland made changes, bringing on Joshua Duffus, Ben Old, Irvin Cardona, and Aïmen Moueffek (74th minute), followed by Nadir El Jamali (79th minute). Despite a final duel between Ben Old and the goalkeeper (85th), Les Verts were unable to find a way through, unlike Annecy, who extended their lead through Rambaud, who broke free from the offside trap to beat Gautier Larsonneur (4-0, 90th). Les Verts suffered a heavy defeat.

Coming next

After losing the first of three matches awaiting them this week, Saint-Étienne will have little time to dwell on their defeat. Tuesday's home game against Pau (8:30 p.m.) will give them a chance to shake off their frustration before traveling to Stade Bauer to take on Red Star next Saturday (8 p.m.).