Saint-Etienne opens Ligue 1 account with win over Lille

Saint-Etienne finally got some points on the board four games into the French league with a surprise 1-0 win over high-flying Lille on Friday.

The 10-time French champion started on the bottom of Ligue 1 with no points and no goals from its first three games but it led Lille after just six minutes and stayed in front.

Visiting Lille had most of the possession and most of the shots on goal but the home side survived to lift itself off the bottom of the 18-team table and into 15th place.

In Saint-Etienne’s first win over Lille since 2018, Mathieu Cafaro got the only goal when he capitalized after good work from Zuriko Davitashvili on the right.