By Le Figaro
Published yesterday at 10:50 p.m., Updated yesterday at 11:01 p.m.
The Ruthenois will challenge Saint-Etienne in the play-offs on Friday. Thierry Breton / Thierry Breton / Panoramic
Joined at the last second, the Aveyronnais won a penalty shootout that they had started very badly.
Rodez went through all the emotions. And the RAF will continue to create a surprise with its qualification for the second Ligue 2 play-off after its suspenseful victory against Paris FC (2-2, 3-2 in the tabs). An exceptional outcome for one of the smallest budgets in Ligue 2, a team among the surprises of the season until the end and until this first play-off against the much more ambitious Paris FC, who had nevertheless picked up the Stade Paul-Lignon thanks to an early goal from Dicko, opportunistic following a long ball (4th).
But the RAF did not panic, before equalizing immediately, on a penalty calmly converted by Captain Danger (8th). 20 minutes later, Corredor gave the Ruthenois a deserved lead, superior at home (33rd). But without being able to make the break, especially against the Parisians who were reduced to ten men an hour into the game, the locals ended up breaking on a final corner, in the last second (90th+6).
Three missed shots on goal to start
But the dramaturgy did not stop there. The sky seemed to be falling on the heads of the RAF players, accustomed to playing for several seasons and even less to playing this type of high-stakes matches. The result was a catastrophic start to the penalty shootout, with the first three fairly gross misses. Except that opposite, the PFC did not convert its match points, blocked by the young goalkeeper Jaouen (18 years old), who had released the ball into the feet of Dabila at the end of the match. A final flying attempt from Camara left Paul-Lignon exultant, and the PFC failed in the play-offs for the fifth time since 2017.
15th Ligue 2 budget, singled out at the end of last season for the events in Bordeaux, the RAF has granted itself the right to dream a little more and will meet Geoffroy-Guichard on Friday (8:45 p.m.) to win the right to face FC Metz (16th in Ligue 1) in the play-offs. Two weeks earlier, the Ruthenois had gone for a draw in Forez (1-1) to slow down ASSE’s quest to return to L1. Again?
