FootballBarrage L1-L2
Saint-Étienne vs nice: the driest pro football match in France since 2022
The first leg of the Ligue 1/Ligue 2 playoff between Saint-Étienne and Nice (0-0) delivered the lowest expected goals (xG) performance in a full professional match in France for nearly two years.
Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium bore witness to a drab display on Tuesday evening as Saint-Étienne and Nice played out a goalless deadlock in their playoff first leg (0-0). The match produced no shots on target from either side across 103 minutes of play, a rarity even in French football’s lower leagues.
According to Opta data, the fixture registered just 0.41 xG—0.11 for Saint-Étienne and 0.30 for Nice—making it the barest offensive showing in a completed professional match (Ligue 1, Ligue 2 or playoffs) since the 2022-2023 season.
How does this compare to recent low-scoring games?
Only two matches this season came close to such meagerness: Grenoble vs Bastia (0.55 xG, 0-0 on September 26) and Toulouse vs Strasbourg (0.56 xG, 1-0 on December 6). The previous record for minimal xG in a full match was set on December 12, 2023, when Metz and Brest managed just 0.54 xG in a 0-1 loss.
Defensive solidity overshadows offensive drought
While Saint-Étienne’s attacking display was notably toothless—marking only the third time in 20 years they failed to attempt a shot in the opponent’s box—their defensive record remains impressive. The club sits second in clean sheets this season with 15, trailing only Paris Saint-Germain’s 18 across Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
This balance of defensive resilience and offensive struggle was most recently seen in April 2017 against Paris Saint-Germain (0-5) and December 2024 against Marseille (0-2), both at home, where the Verts likewise failed to trouble the scorers.
