Speaking just minutes after the final whistle in the first leg of the promotion/relegation play-off match, Jean-Pierre Rivère delivered his analysis of the game before turning attentions to Friday’s second leg:

“I didn’t recognise the players. It’s half-time in the tie. Now we need to finish the job. We have a second half to come. Why was it so hard to create chances? The pressure, I don’t know. Again, it felt like the players were very timid, you could see it. We kept passing back, we didn’t take the initiative. We need to correct a bit of everything. We will do what we can to be better for the second half. Will it be difficult again on Friday? It will always be difficult, right to the end. The important thing is to get through. The way we get through doesn’t matter. The important thing now is that it’s nil-all and we need to get the result at home – behind closed doors unfortunately. I don’t know whether that will be an advantage for Saint-Etienne, because we still have to play a match of football. But it would have been better to have our fans behind us. It’s a shame. We already played a match behind closed doors againstSaint-Etienne in the Coupe de France in December. There was also COVID, so we have experience of these types of matches. It’s always better to have everyone in our home ground supporting the team.”