Ligue 1 Review | Strasbourg’s heartbreak shouldn’t distract from impressive season | OneFootball

A season that had been building towards a return to Europe would end in heartbreak for Liam Rosenior’s young RC Strasbourg Alsace, as they missed out on qualification via the league following a shock 3-2 defeat at home to Le Havre AC.

Strasbourg had needed only a point against a club that started the weekend in the relegation playoff spot to secure their place in Europe, and there was an expectation going into the game that the Stade de la Meinau would once again play a significant part in helping them over the line.

The Meinau had been like a fortress throughout the campaign, a place where Strasbourg could almost always rely upon a good result, as before this weekend, only AS Monaco, back in November, had managed to defeat Strasbourg on home soil. However, on the final day of the season, with the pressure mounting, Strasbourg would once more wobble, throwing away their lead twice before Le Havre put the result out of the question with a last-minute panenka from Abdoulaye Touré.

Europe still on the horizon for Strasbourg

Strasbourg slipped from sixth in the table to seventh and out of contention for Europe through their league position. “It’s really tough,” Rosenior told reporters after the match, “It’s probably one of the most painful ways to lose something you thought was within reach. A European spot was within our grasp. There’s still a small chance, but I wanted to end it on a positive note. And I’m devastated we didn’t.”

Strasbourg’s defeat means that they are now reliant on Paris Saint-Germain winning the Coupe de France at the expense of Stade de Reims (who due to Le Havre’s victory dropped down in the relegation playoff spot) to qualify for the Europa Conference League playoffs as the next best placed team in the league.

Admittedly, PSG are far from the worst team to have to rely on to gain a result, and they will be the outstanding favourites to take home a domestic double (which could then turn into a treble if they beat Inter Milan in the Champions League), however, they are yet to beat Reims either home or away in the league this season, with both games ending in a 1-1 draw.

Strong foundations or question marks for the future

The way this season has ended for Le Racing should not distract from how impressive the campaign has been up to this point. With the youngest squad in Ligue 1, Strasbourg have come close to challenging the very best in French football and were, until after the penultimate weekend, in the race for Champions League football.

This is a huge step up from last season when the club were looking over their shoulders at the relegation battle. As Rosenior explains, “Right now, it’s as painful as football can be. But if you look at the season as a whole, there’s a lot of positives. We know we can still strengthen this squad, and we can build strong foundations for the future.”

The future does look bright for this Le Racing squad, and the finish to the campaign will be a learning opportunity, but there are still huge question marks over who will remain at the team over the summer to help Rosenior build on this season’s positives. For Andrey Santos and Djordje Petrovic, at least, the defeat to Le Havre was likely their last game with Strasbourg before they return permanently to Chelsea.

This week’s Ligue 1 subplots

https://twitter.com/GFFN/status/1924431569365721486

For Olympique Lyonnais, a 2-0 win over Angers SCO was enough to send Strasbourg down to seventh. It was a game of goodbyes as Alexandre Lacazette played his last for his formative club, while Rayan Cherki also announced it would probably also be his last. Read Cherki’s full quotes HERE.

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GFFN | Nick Hartland