A single ticket at the end of the suspense… Reims and Metz were found this Thursday in Champagne for a second under high tension in the dams between the sixteenth in Ligue 1 to the third of Ligue 2.. The two neighbors in the northeast had left on a parity score in Saint-Symphorien, a week ago (1-1).
Suffice to say that the games were open for this second round. Widely beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Coupe de France on Saturday (0-3), the Stade de Reims is plagued by doubt and was to take on its favorite costume again.
A delicate mental approach for a club on the edge of the abyss. There was electricity, tension, contacts, tension, but at the end of the ball, it was the … who had the last word.
Gauthier eh, hero at the foot of gold
The first leg had shown the importance of the set kicks. Reims and Metz come together in their difficulties in creating danger in the game. It was still the locals who tried to impose their pressing in the first period, but the men of Samba Diawara were more realistic than their opponent in the two areas of truth.
14 Cheikh Sabaly (FCM) – 21 Cedric Kipre (SDR) During the Playoffs Match Between Reims and Metz at Stade Auguste Delaune on May 29, 2025 in Reims, France. (Photo by Philippe Lecoeur/FEP/ICON SPORT) – Photo by icon sport
It was not until the return of the locker room to see this balance of power unlock. The light came from TIA, whose closed shot hit the bull's eye (1-0, 57th). But as a week ago, Metz did not drop anything and found the physical and mental resources to revolt. And once again, Udol played the saviors by triggering a sublime strike to equalize (1-1, 78th). It was written that this dam would be completed at the end of the night. And at this little game, it was the Lorrainers who imposed their law.
A man has emerged from nowhere to put everyone in agreement: Gauthier huh. Already mounted twice with AJ Auxerre, the playmaker Messin, who had returned to the fold last summer, propelled the Grenats to Paradise. It was he who shifted Touré from a subtle heel for a victorious shot at the start of the second act of extensions (1-2, 110th). And it was he, above all, who set the addition of a masterful lob more than 40 meters a few minutes from the end (1-3, 114th). Metz still makes the elevator for the 5th time in 10 years and finds the elite. For Reims, the fall is brutal.
