One of the most anticipated matches of the Ligue 1 season is taking place this evening as the fierce rivals Lyon and Saint-Etienne meet at Groupama Stadium.
The Rhône Derby is one of the fiercest in French play, and the drama often occurs outside the field as much as it does on it.
And there was a drama on the eve of Sunday’s match when supporters of Lyon and Saint-Etienne clashed in violent scenes.
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Lyon welcomes fierce rival Saint-Etienne tonight
The videos on social networks show more than 100 rival fans clashing in the alleys of Lyon on Saturday evening, the police intervened later.
Groups of opposing supporters could be seen tossing objects such as flares and chairs, the Lyons supporters allegedly instructing a large group of Saint-Etienne followers to discard them.
Smaller fights also took place after many ASSE fans fled, although they eventually died out before the police arrived.
Le Sun claims that visiting Saint-Etienne supporters were banned from entering Lyon this morning from noon, which means they showed up around 8 p.m. Saturday evening to enter before curfew.
The two rivals face off tonight amid disappointing seasons for the pair; Lyon is ninth after 27 games while Saint-Etienne is in 16th place – just two points behind relegation – with the same number of matches played.
The last Rhône Derby took place last October at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne. The hosts won 1-0 when Robert Beric scored in the last minute of the match to defeat Lyon and secure the win.
You can watch an extract from the scenes of Lyon, above…
