Paris Saint-Germain needed almost €150m worth of attacking talent from the bench – including the man who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final last month – to avoid defeat in their Ligue 1 opener against Rennes. The reigning European champions initially floundered against a Rennes team that lived up to their billing as the best of the rest in Ligue 1, before Ferran Torres scored twice to secure a 2-2 draw.
Rennes take control with two first-half goals
For 45 minutes, Rennes’ incessant pressing and fluidity in transition had Luis Enrique’s side under duress. Sebastien Szymanski opened the scoring with a sliced effort from outside the box that clipped in off the inside of a post. PSG had territorial dominance but could not equalise, with two former Rennes players – Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé – having the best chances, the latter particularly wasteful with a skied first-time effort from inside the box.
Esteban Lepaul, the top scorer in Ligue 1 last season, picked up where he left off, beating Matvey Safonov with a first-time effort towards the near post to double Rennes’ lead.
Luis Enrique’s changes turn the game
A reaction was needed, and it drew a very strong one from Luis Enrique. Off came perhaps the two most talented players in the league, Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. On came Ferran Torres and Mika Godts, signed for a combined fee of nearly €100m, at half-time. The former hauled PSG back into the game.
In the meantime, the €50m signing Maghnes Akliouche had come on for his Ligue 1 debut for the champions, as had Fabián Ruiz, and it was the Spanish connection that ensured a point for PSG. Ruiz teed up both of Torres’ goals, the first after an exquisitely timed run in behind from the former Barcelona forward and the second a close-range header. Willian Pacho was called upon in the dying moments, making a goalline clearance to secure the draw.
“If you think about what you’ve won, you won’t win anything else. You have to show every day that you are ready,” said Luis Enrique when asked about his decision to replace Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia. He added that there had been “a big difference in rhythm” between Rennes and PSG.
Rennes’ growing optimism
PSG’s lethargy is no surprise; it was only the nature of their opponents – Nantes and Angers – that prevented them from slipping up at the start of last season, once again after limited preparation time. “We have to be more ready,” said Luis Enrique. The same applies to the groundstaff at the Parc des Princes. The state of PSG’s pitch meant this game moved last minute to Roazhon Park; it suited Rennes, especially if, as they argue should be the case, the second game is also played at their home ground.
There is a burgeoning positivity around Roazhon Park. While the prospects of other challengers have dwindled, Rennes’ have multiplied. The wealth of the Breton club’s owners, the Pinault family, has bought them a form of immunity to the financial crisis that has now struck down Marseille and Monaco; other challengers: Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Lens are consigned to stagnation, for now.
Rennes approached the season looking second-best on paper, and after Sunday night, that perception now aligns with reality. Rennes fended off competition from the Premier League to sign the England youth international Charlie Cresswell from Toulouse. One of the best defenders in Ligue 1 last season, he was excellent against PSG; in Adrien Thomasson, Rennes also acquired the most valuable piece of Lens’ success last season, arguably the best midfielder in the division, and on a free, no less. And in Lepaul, they have a prolific striker who is very much in contention to be in Zinedine Zidane’s first France squad next month.
They have a strong spine and a brilliant manager. Franck Haise began his managerial career as a youth coach at Rennes, and they were only too happy to bring him back in February after things turned sour at Nice. There has always been the perception that there has been a missing piece in the puzzle at Rennes. Despite their means, their talented squad, their renowned academy, they had reached a ceiling. Questionable managerial appointments played their part. Haise may well be the right man, the missing part.
“There is more positive than negative,” he said after the 2-2 draw. The negative is the way the two points were ceded, a laxness creeping in, particularly from Abdelhamid Aït-Boudlal, who is nonetheless another exciting prospect. The positive is that Rennes did not look second-best on the night, but they could be come the end of the season, and for all clubs in Ligue 1, that has to be the aspiration. PSG flexed their muscles, but only because Rennes made them.
