Rennes Beats PSG 2-0 To Hand League Leader Its 1st Defeat

Rennes beats PSG 2-0 to hand league leader its 1st defeat

Rennes defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on Sunday, scoring shortly before and after the interval to give the league leaders their first loss of the season.

After PSG’s Lionel Messi struck the crossbar with a free kick in the 31st minute, Gaetan Laborde put Rennes ahead on the stroke of halftime.

In the 46th minute, Laborde found midfielder Flavien Tait.

Tait stated, “We played a really tough game and we damaged them on each of our runs.” “Today they were lacking something.”

PSG won their first eight games but had to rely on injury-time goals to beat Lyon and Metz.

After being outwitted by Rennes coach Bruno Genesio, PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino stated, “The first person accountable is me.”

PSG is six points ahead of Lens in second position and eight points ahead of Nice in third place,

despite having played one game less.

Rennes has been a difficult location for PSG to visit in previous seasons,

and it was once again for many reasons.

The squad was unable to fly to Brittany on Saturday night due to strong wind and rain and instead arrived at the stadium by bus and vehicle.

Messi, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, had an early shot stopped after scoring a stunning opening goal for PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Since joining PSG in a surprise transfer from Barcelona,

where he scored 672 goals, he has struck the crossbar twice with free kicks.

Despite the fact that he is yet to score in the league for PSG,

Messi set up Mbappe halfway through the first half — but the attempt was scuffed — and nearly set up Neymar for a goal.

When Ghana winger Kamaldeen Sulemana found Laborde for his league-leading sixth goal,

PSG was punished.

After Messi and Angel Di Maria sent him through halfway through the second half,

Mbappe pounced, but the goal was called out after a video review revealed Mbappe was offside.

Laborde was awarded a late penalty, but it was overturned after a review.

Last-placed Saint-Etienne struck an injury-time penalty to draw fierce local rival Lyon 1-1 late in the game.

After a video review identified a handball by Lyon defender Jason Denayer,

Tunisia striker Wahbi Khazri scored a penalty for the hosts in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

After Khazri’s score, home supporters briefly invaded the pitch, but the game was soon restarted and finished.

Midtable Lyon lost out on a chance to finish in fifth place, while Saint-Etienne has just four points and has yet to win.
After goalkeeper Anthony Lopes was sent off in the 74th minute for touching the ball beyond the penalty area after attacker Denis Bouanga lobbed him, Lyon ended with ten men.

Khazri scored in the 33rd minute, however, it was an offside goal.

Lyon had punished Saint-Etienne when midfielder Houssem Aouar finished off Lucas Paqueta’s ball in the 42nd. Xherdan Shaqiri, a former Liverpool winger, scored soon after,

but his goal was disallowed because Paqueta was offside.

After Khazri inadvertently kicked Lopes in the head while grabbing for the ball,

the second half was stopped for a few minutes.

Marseille had already fallen 2-0 to reigning champion Lille,

with Marseille, supporters grieving the death of legendary former president Bernard Tapie, who died of cancer on Sunday morning.

He was 78 years old at the time.

As heartbroken supporters paid their respects, Marseille fans built a huge picture of Tapie in front of their home stadium, Stade Velodrome.

Before the game, Lille and Marseille supporters exchanged a round of applause when an image of Tapie was shown onto the stadium scoreboard.

Marseille’s players were outfitted with black armbands.

Jonathan David of Canada scored two goals, the second of which came deep into injury time and was set up by Timothy Weah of the United States, the son of Liberia president George Weah.

After Turkey winger, Cengiz Under was sent off in the 77th minute for a hard challenge,

Marseille was reduced to ten men. Marseille fell to the fifth position behind Anger, while Lille improved to ninth place.