Saint-Étienne 1976, the run that made a hurting city dream | OneFootball

Fifty years to the day from Glasgow, Saint-Étienne’s 1-0 European Cup final loss to Bayern still frames a city’s pride and pain. According to L’Équipe, the 1976 epic became part of France’s shared memory.

In spring 1976, mines were closing, Creusot-Loire was restructuring, families left mid-year, and resentment of class condescension simmered. The mayor, Michel Durafour, skipped Glasgow for parliament.

France watched the Verts overturn 0-2 against Dynamo Kyiv and Oleg Blokhine with a 3-0 extra-time win. Robert Herbin, 37, led a largely unchanged side after Georges Bereta’s winter departure.

About 25,000 supporters travelled, and with TF1 broadcasting largely in black and white, Saint-Étienne wore black shorts, a choice many later rued. At Hampden, Bathenay hit a post and Santini another before Roth’s free-kick, after a debatable Piazza foul, decided it.

Dominique Rocheteau tore a thigh at Eindhoven on 14 April, needed six weeks, had four. After a novocaine injection he warmed up early in the second half, but Herbin waited. Wearing No 13, he played 8 minutes 32 seconds, unable to change it.

Bayern even wore the Verts’ shirt on their lap of honour, perhaps because it carried no advertising and nobody minded. The next day, R5 convertibles rolled down the Champs-Élysées, then the Élysée Palace hosted the runners-up and Jacques Chirac joked about traffic.

Later, a huge crowd met them at Geoffroy-Guichard. On Saturday, before Saint-Étienne 5-0 Amiens, 40,000 hailed the class of 1976, and age, emotion and memory walked with them.

Source: L'Équipe