And eight. An opportunistic scorer, with his head, from the 10th minute of this Brest – Saint-Etienne, Mahdi Camara scored his eighth goal in 2024. He is the most prolific midfielder in Ligue 1 over the calendar year. On Saturday, he imposed himself in the air after a confused action. The former Stéphanois managed to place a diving header after a first header from Brendan Chardonnet deflected by a defender. Against his former club, Mahdi Camara was in several good shots, with also a cross shot stopped by Gautier Larsonneur (8 ‘) and good interventions.
2. A lively Stade Brestois without being exciting
The Finistériens got off to a perfect start in the match, with several chances right from the start, until Camara’s quick opening goal. They didn’t lose focus after that and continued to put pressure on the Saint-Etienne goal, with possession sometimes exceeding 65% in the first half. Romain Del Castillo made the breakthrough from the penalty spot (32′): two weeks after a failure against Marseille, he didn’t waver to score the thirteenth penalty of his career (out of 14 attempts). He was hoping to have the opportunity to score another before half-time: the Brestois claimed a handball from Mathis Amougou. After reviewing the footage, the referee decided not to blow the whistle.
More timid in the second half, the Brestois managed and created new opportunities: a header from Ludovic Ajorque that fell just behind the crossbar (48′) or a low shot from Romain Faivre that grazed the post (69th), for example. If they did not display the technical mastery of last year, the Finistériens never trembled in the face of a very weak Sainté, who completely cracked at the end of the match.
3. Larsonneur and Saint-Etienne have cracked
Promoted to Ligue 1 this season, the Stéphanois have almost never been dangerous.
They had a lot of trouble building their moves. They only had three shots on goal and never got the ball on target.
At the end of the match, the Foréziens even cracked a little. Author of a big handball, the former Brest player Gautier Larsonneur allowed Ludovic Ajorque to score his first goal with Brest. As a fox in the box, the former Strasbourg player shot him from point-blank range, with the outside of his foot (78′). The Greens then conceded a second penalty after a gross foul by Pierre Cornud: he belted the Brest recruit Soumaila Coulibaly in the penalty area. Kenny Lala did not tremble to score the fourth Brest goal (84′).
Bottom of the championship at kick-off, Brest is out of the red zone and has a precious breath of fresh air before the international break and before two prestigious meetings: on September 14, Brest will travel to Paris in the championship, before its big debut in the Champions League, on September 19, against Sturm Graz, in Guingamp.
The technical sheet
Arbitrator : Mr. Angoula.
Spectators : 14 885.
BUTS. Brest : Camara (11′), Del Castillo (31′), Ajorque (77′), Lala (84′).
Warnings. Saint-Etienne : Fomba (30′), Maçon (56′), Batubinsika (66′), Cafaro (80′), Cornud (83′).
BREST. Bizot – Lala, Chardonnet (cap), Le Cardinal (Coulibaly, 75′), Amavi (Zogbé, 75′) – Camara, Magnetti, Faivre (Pereira-Lage, 75′) – Del Castillo (Camblan, 86′), Ajorque , Sima (Martin, 67′). Coach: Eric Roy.
Not entered into play: Coudert, Kanté, Diop.
SAINT-ETIENNE. Larsonneur – Maçon (Appiah, 58′) , Batubinsika, Abdelhamid, Cornud (Petrot, 85′) – Fomba (Moueffek, 58′), Amougou (Tardieu, 85), Davitashvili – Cafaro, Sissoko, Aiki (Wadji, 58′) . Coach: Olivier Dall’Oglio.
Not entered into play: Maubleu, Nadé, Mouton, Gauthier.
