Rosenborg rocked by clinical St-Etienne

Vast improvement
Les Verts are fourth from bottom in Ligue 1 after four straight defeats and their struggles looked to be continuing as they laboured through the first half at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. However, they were sensational after the interval, and once Ilan had broken the deadlock just before the hour there was going to be only one winner. Machado doubled the advantage four minutes later and substitute Mirallas sealed the points for Laurent Roussey's team as Rosenborg were left shell-shocked – their evening summed up when Roar Strand rattled the post late on.

Iversen threat
The freedom with which St-Etienne ended the game contrasted markedly with how they had started it, as slack passing presented their Norwegian visitors with a succession of chances. Marek Sapara and Michael Lustig both sent good opportunities over the crossbar but it was Steffen Iversen who was causing the home defence the biggest headache. He demonstrated wonderful poise to cushion a 35th-minute free-kick even if he directed his subsequent shot over on the stretch. St-Etienne would make his side pay for such profligacy.

St-Etienne lifted
An Ilan opening aside – the Brazilian striker miscontrolling when clear on goal – Roussey's men had little to show for the first half but the second period was a different story. Ilan set the ball rolling, displaying the poise which had early escaped him to latch on to Geoffrey Dernis's pass and curl a shot into the far corner. A weight was lifted and Machado quickly gave the hosts a cushion after being sent through, deftly lifting the ball over the onrushing Rune Jarstein. Rosenborg recovered, with Sapara grazing the post with a free-kick, before Mirallas extinguished any hope of a comeback by rounding Jarstein to slot home from an acute angle.