French football fans launch flares onto pitch as stadium is swamped in smoke
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French football descended into farce once again on Friday night as angry fans launched flares onto the pitch and swamped a stadium in thick smoke.
Saint-Etienne's home fixture with Angers was delayed by more than an hour as supporters vented their fury at manager Claude Puel.
Fans are furious at the club's current position in the Ligue 1 table.
Les Verts are one of the grand old names of French football having won the country's top-flight title a record ten times, putting them one ahead of Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain.
But this season has not started well for Saint-Etienne and the club are rock-bottom of the table with just four points and no wins from their opening ten matches.
Supporters have seen enough and decided to protest against the current regime before Saint-Etienne's home game with Angers on Friday night.
As the teams made their way out onto the pitch ahead of kick-off, flares rained down from the stand behind the goal, covering the stadium in a thick layer of smoke.
Footage showed home supporters racing down to the front of the stand to launch their pyrotechnics, some of which appeared to make contact with the goal net, burning a hole in it.
What do you make of the scenes at Saint-Etienne vs Angers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Following almost an hour delay, the game eventually kicked off just before 9pm UK time.
The scenes at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard follow similar incidents that have cast a shadow over French football in recent months.
Play had to be stopped during Marseille's clash with Galatasaray in the Europa League earlier this month while fans threw flares at each other.
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That followed an even worse incident in their Ligue 1 clash with Nice last month.
Former West Ham star Dimitri Payet was hit by a bottle thrown from the Nice end, which the Frenchman promptly threw back, almost sparking disgraceful scenes.
Nice fans stormed onto the pitch and Pablo Fernandez, Marseille's physio, was banned for the season after launching punches in the direction of the Nice's players.
The Derby du Nord between Lens and Lille was also disrupted by crowd problems, as was Marseille’s match against Angers, and the recent clash between Metz and PSG.
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- Ligue 1
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