Stade Rennais was not rewarded for its efforts and lost on Thursday at Villarreal, in a Europa League group match (1-0). Martin Terrier missed a penalty in stoppage time.
There was no need to be heartbroken among the Rennes supporters this Thursday evening at the Céramique stadium in Villarreal. Traveling to the Spanish club’s pitch, as part of the group stage of the Europa League, Stade Rennais lost by the smallest of margins (1-0). However, he would have deserved more and could have at least snatched a draw if Martin Terrier had not missed his duel from the penalty spot at the very end of the match.
Before that, the first period had been more to the credit of the locals. Slightly ahead in terms of ball possession, the Villarreal players were able to find the fault shortly after the half-hour mark with a low shot from Alexander Sorloth (1-0, 36th). A precious advantage retained until the break by Pacheta’s men.
Terrier, spoiled return
Back from the locker room, the Bretons took matters into their own hands. Visibly brought back into line by Bruno Genesio’s speech, the Bretons never stopped bringing danger to the opposing camp. And they believed for the first time to benefit from a golden opportunity in the form of a penalty following a supposed foul by Pepe Reina on Arnaud Kalimuendo (79th). But called by VAR, the referee finally reversed his decision to award a penalty to the visitors.
Never mind, again less than ten minutes later and the man with the whistle once again indicated the penalty spot after an obvious foul on Ludovic Blas. But this time, it was an offside that the VAR checked for more than three long minutes. Finally granted, the shot on goal was taken by Martin Terrier. Bad luck for him, the striker, returning after a long injury and nine months of absence, lost his duel in two stages with Pepe Reina (90th + 2). A few moments later, the end of the match was whistled with this narrow victory for Villarreal (1-0).
In the standings of Group F, Rennes is third, tied on points with its evening opponent, and one point behind the leader, Panathinaikos. The Greek club, which played at the same time against Maccabi Haifa, went for the point of the draw in Israel (0-0).
