October 03, (THEWILL) – There was a French League upset on Sunday when Rennes stunned Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 to earn their third Ligue 1 victory of the season, after nine games, at the Roazhon Park in Rennes.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team came into the encounter fresh off a Champions League victory over Manchester City earlier in the week, but the outcome served as a harsh reality check for the French giants.
The hosts got off to a good start, but it was not long until PSG regained control, with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar both missing excellent chances to score before Lionel Messi hit the crossbar with a freekick.
On the stroke of halftime, though, Rennes seized the lead against the run of play when Gaetan Laborde slid in at the back post to convert a Kamaldeen Sulemana cross into the box.
Rennes added a second goal on the other side of halftime, with Flavien Tait scoring following superb work on the left side by Laborde. The goal stood despite a long VAR assessment that raised suspicions about a probable offside in the build-up.
After Mbappe slid a lovely finish inside the far post, PSG appeared to have pulled one back, but VAR was again employed to spot that the French forward had been offside in the build-up this time around.
Ander Herrera, Mauro Icardi, and Georginio Wijnaldum were all sent on as substitutes to try to turn the game around for PSG, but there was no way back as Rennes strolled to victory.
PSG had been chastised for some of their performances this season, but they had won all eight of their Ligue 1 games thus far. Yet, there had been a sense that a result like this was on the way, and it was, as PSG’s domestic woes finally caught up with them.
Considering the quality of talents on exhibit at Roazhon Park, it was saying a lot that Rennes teenager Sulemana was the best player on the pitch on Sunday. Not only did the 19-year-old provide the assist for the game’s first goal, but he also controlled Rennes’ attacking third.
Achraf Hakimi has had a good start at PSG, but Sulemana gave him a bad afternoon. The away team was unable to contain the teenager.
Pochettino has a lot of work ahead of him in terms of figuring out the best system for the world-class players he has at his disposal. Even after beating Manchester City, he still has challenges to deal with as this loss vividly showed.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
