Saint Etienne vs Clermont Foot — Ligue 2: stats, lineups & analysis
Match Events
play_arrow4 clips- 23′Saint Etienne, substitution:off
- 41′Saint Etienne, goal:1–0assist
- Half-time1 – 0
- 46′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 49′Saint Etienne, yellow card:Foul
- 54′Saint Etienne, goal:2–0
- 59′Saint Etienne, substitution:off
- 64′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 64′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 68′Clermont Foot, yellow card:Foul
- 71′Saint Etienne, goal:3–0assist
- 72′Saint Etienne, substitution:off
- 74′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 74′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 82′Saint Etienne, substitution:off
- 83′Saint Etienne, substitution:off
- 83′Clermont Foot, substitution:off
- 89′Clermont Foot, goal:3–1assist
- Full-time3 – 1
Lineups
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Key Stats
Top Performers
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Player Ratings
Saint Etienne
Clermont Foot
Match report
Saint Etienne overpower Clermont Foot to stay top of Ligue 2
Saint Etienne beat Clermont Foot 3-1 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Ligue 2 matchday 2, moving further clear at the top of the table. Irvin Cardona broke the deadlock in the 41st minute, assisted by Thierno Ballo, sending the home side in 1-0 up at half-time.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Ballo doubled the lead himself just after the hour, finishing in the 54th minute to make it 2-0. Jakob Breum added a third in the 71st minute, converting a chance created by Áron Csongvai, before Ousmane Diop pulled one back for Clermont Foot in the 89th minute, assisted by Junior Sambia, to set the final score at 3-1.
Saint Etienne dominated for long spells, holding 61% of possession and firing 21 shots to Clermont Foot's 5, with five efforts on target compared to the visitors' two. The result lifted Ian Cathro's side to six points from two games at the summit, while David Guion's Clermont Foot remained down in 16th with a single point.
Breum scored and rated 8.7, sharing the top performance mark with Cardona, who also found the net, while Csongvai chipped in with an assist as one of the home side's most influential figures.
Saint Etienne's 21 shots to Clermont Foot's 5 underlined how one-sided the contest was in terms of attacking output.
Saint Etienne beat Clermont Foot 3–1 (half-time 1–0).
Saint Etienne met Clermont Foot in the Ligue 2 (Regular Season - 2). Kick-off was Friday, 14 August 2026, 18:45 UTC at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Referee: Mickael Leleu.
Team pages: Saint Etienne · Clermont Foot · Ligue 2
Key moments
- 41' Goal: Irvin Cardona (assist: Thierno Ballo) — 1–0 · Watch Irvin Cardona's goal video (41')
- 54' Goal: Thierno Ballo — 2–0 · Watch Thierno Ballo's goal video (54')
- 71' Goal: Jakob Breum (assist: Áron Csongvai) — 3–0 · Watch Jakob Breum's goal video (71')
- 89' Goal: Ousmane Diop (assist: Junior Sambia) — 3–1 · Watch Ousmane Diop's goal video (89')
Starting line-ups
Saint Etienne (4-2-3-1)
Clermont Foot (4-4-2)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Saint Etienne 53%, the draw 29%, Clermont Foot 18%. It finished Saint Etienne 3–1 Clermont Foot.
Saint Etienne's rating edge, but the draw is in play — Saint Etienne are the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Saint Etienne's 53%. The draw at 29% is lifted by a low-scoring environment.
Why Saint Etienne at 53%?
Saint Etienne sit 172 points higher on our strength rating — 1627 to 1455. Sides with a 100–200-point rating edge at home won 57.2% of 12,691 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 58–24–18.
Why only 53%?
Both sides are inside their first six league games — home wins land softer this early in the season, so this trims Saint Etienne's column. Across 10,546 opening-stretch games since 2010, home sides won 42.8% where the rating map expected 44.9%, with draws up 2.1 — negative in every season since 2018.
Why is the draw second, ahead of the Clermont Foot win?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 24.2%. These teams' recent games average 2.3 goals — a low-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 28.2% of 18,076. The goals environment adds 3.2 points to the draw. Early-season fixtures add 2.1 points to the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Saint Etienne average 9 points more possession, but the rating gap here is 172 points. Our control receipt only exists between near-equals — there it moved results; across a class gap we could not measure a separate style edge, so style scores 0 here. Last 4 between them: Saint Etienne 4 wins, 0 draws, Clermont Foot 0 wins. Most recently Saint Etienne 1–0 Clermont Foot, 7 months ago. Fixture history hasn't carried forward once class is level: past leaders won just 43.1% of 5034 such games — no measurable edge, 0 points.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Saint Etienne vs Clermont Foot final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this Ligue 2 fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Irvin Cardona's goal against Clermont Foot (41').
- Watch Thierno Ballo's goal against Clermont Foot (54').
- Watch Jakob Breum's goal against Clermont Foot (71').
- Watch Ousmane Diop's goal against Saint Etienne (89').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Saint Etienne 3–1 Clermont Foot. Explore more on the Saint Etienne and Clermont Foot team pages or the Ligue 2 page.