French giants Saint Etienne travel to Turkey to face off with Kardemir Karabükspor, in an attempt to break through to the Europa League group stages for the first time since 2008.
Les Verts fell at this stage 12-months ago, losing 5-3 on aggregate to Esbjerg after qualifying through winning the Coupe de la Ligue. Christophe Galtier must surely feel his side are in a much stronger position this time around, following a fourth placed finish in the domestic league. ‘ASSE’ have won the Ligue 1 title more than any other club, but just missed out on a Champions League place to Lille.
The start to the season couldn’t have gone much better at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Further reinforcements in the form of Kevin Monnet-Paquet and Ricky Van Wolfswinkel of Lorient and Norwich respectively, have seen the the front-line significantly bolstered despite the loss of Brandao to Bastia. The former managed to notch up a goal on his debut as his new team overcame Stade de Reims on Saturday. This result maintains their 100% record during the current campaign and the travelling contingent will hope this continues in Karabuk.
Their opponents for the evening were entered into the third qualifying round of the UEFA’s secondary competition despite only finishing seventh in the Super Lig. Three sides who finished above Mavi Ates are ineligible to play in any European tournament for the foreseeable future, leaving Kardemir Karabükspor next in line. A face familiar to both is Selim Kayaci; the defensive midfielder was a part of Saint Etienne's academy before transferring last year. They have had to defeat Norwegian side Rosenborg in the previous round, with an away goal from Hakan Ozmert enough to separate the two.
Captain Loic Perrin proclaimed before kick-off; "All the fans, all the city attach great importance to the European Cup. We did the job in the league. We will be ready to do the same on the European stage.”
The 29-year-old defender will be lining up alongside Kevin Theophile-Catherine in the coming months, as the full-back signs on loan from Cardiff. One rumoured to be on his way out is top scorer Mevlut Erding, who is wanted by Harry Redknapp at QPR. Ex-Leeds starlet Max Gradel however, is on the verge of putting pen to paper on a new contract.
Sandwiched between the two legs is a fixture against Stade Rennais, who put six past relegation threatened Evian. As for the Turks, their domestic season is yet to begin and the opener couldn’t be any more difficult as a showdown with champions Fenerbahce awaits. The away side will go into this as firm favourites but the Blue Flame is far from extinguished.