It is the most anticipated match each season in the Rhône-Alpes region.
The traditional derby between Saint-Etienne and Lyon will be played this Sunday at 9 p.m., but the Greens have never been so helpless and plucked before tackling it: in the past week, they have identified ... 18 cases of Covid-19 ( players and staff).
But that shouldn't prevent the match from happening.
Explanations.
What is the health situation in Forez?
Very complicated.
Before the trip to Strasbourg last Sunday (0-1 defeat), the Stéphanois identified ten positive cases among players (Kolodziejczak, Hamouma, Debuchy, Youssouf, Bouanga, Abi, Bajic, Green, Monnet-Paquet and Moukoudi).
And eight in the technical staff including Claude Puel and his assistants.
The regulations, in the event of a pandemic, specify that a match cannot take place from… eleven positive cases among players or in the absence of a goalkeeper.
At ASSE, two out of three goalkeepers (Etienne Green and Stefan Bajic) were positive but not Jessy Moulin.
The match was therefore played on Sunday at La Meinau.
Without a substitute goalkeeper on the scoresheet, nor without Puel and his assistants who remained in isolation.
Have the Greens asked for the derby to be postponed?
Not
.
An ambiguity in a response from Puel on Tuesday may have led to believe.
"Are we asking?
Yes we ask, he began before specifying.
You can request it but the rules must apply.
Otherwise the match is lost on the green carpet.
“The club has therefore made no approach to the League in this direction.
She also does not expect a gesture from her opponent, Lyon.
As Strasbourg did not do last Sunday: an Alsatian leader even phoned one of his Saint-Etienne counterparts to urge him to line up a team and not "invent an eleventh case of Covid-19 so as not to play" ...
Will the Greens be able to field a competitive team?
No.
Of the ten players prevented from playing in Strasbourg, only four will be allowed to play on Sunday.
But they can only resume collective training the day before or the day of the match.
ASSE takes refuge behind medical secrecy and has not communicated the names of these four players.
We only know that defender Timothée Kolodziejczak is one of them.
As in Alsace, the team will mainly be made up of young people from the training center.
The green group also cannot prepare properly this week at the Robert-Herbin center.
Claude Puel, still isolated, will not be able to return until… Sunday.
The players, they cannot work tactically and are satisfied with workshops in groups of five.
Can the match still be postponed?
A priori no
.
Since four players will leave the group of isolated this weekend, ASSE should therefore register five additional cases to exceed the threshold of ten cases synonymous with postponement.
Even the assumption that the only valid goalkeeper, Jessy Moulin is contaminated would only suffice if the other two goalkeepers, Bajic and Green, were still on the absent list on Sunday.
Which does not appear to be the case.
What is OL's reaction?
Legalist.
For its part, OL, which hopes to revive Sunday at Geoffroy-Guichard after losing its leading position following its defeat against Metz (0-1) last Sunday, is monitoring the situation of its neighbor from a distance.
"For the sake of fairness, we want the rules to be respected", simply indicates the club ...