Saint-Etienne (AFP)

Saint-Etienne, winner of Strasbourg (2-0) carried by Denis Bouanga, scorer and decisive passer on Saturday in his Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, temporarily took the lead of Ligue 1 after his second victory in two games.

With six points in two days, this success, difficult to obtain, is especially very valuable for the young team from Saint-Etienne in reconstruction and victorious from Lorient (2-0), on September 6 for its entry into the championship, which will have to continue Thursday in Marseille, in a late match, and Sunday in Nantes.

The Greens took the advantage on a penalty scored by Bouanga (57th), conceded for a fault of hand by Alexander Djiku in the fight with Charles Abi at the reception of a center delivered from the left wing by Yvann Maçon.

This is also the third penalty in as many matches conceded by the Strasbourg, now last in the standings with a zero points.

Top scorer for the Greens last season with 14 goals in 40 matches in all competitions, Bouanga has scored for the first time this season.

The former Lorient and Nîmes, yet in difficulty in the first period, was also decisive on the second goal of his team.

After a good job on the right side, he delivered a center back for Mahdi Camara who doubled the gap (2-0, 82nd).

ASSE obtained other opportunities to score on a shot from Arnaud Nordin or on a free kick from Adil Aouchiche, diverted by goalkeeper Bangoura Kamara (15th, 42nd).

Saint-Etienne was able to take advantage of the lack of realism of Racing which could have opened the scoring on a recovery of the head of Majeed Waris diverted on the bar by Jessy Moulin (13th), who also intervened on a free kick from Kenny Lala ( 45th + 1) and two attempts by Lucien Zohi (7th, 53rd).

A shot from Mehdi Chahiri also came close (78th) while Timothée Kolodziejczak, in front of his line, and Moulin in turn saved the Greens on two attempts from Adrien Thomasson and Chahiri (90th + 1).

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