Before the international break, the 8th day of Ligue 1 ended this Sunday evening with a top-of-the-table confrontation between two teams playing in Europe. Only a few days after the slap received at St James’ Park against Newcastle during the second day of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain traveled to the pitch at Stade Rennais, also defeated earlier this week by Villarreal in the Europa League. At Roazhon Park, Luis Enrique decided to return to 4-3-3 with Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Gonçalo Ramos in attack. In this meeting, Armand Kalimuendo was the first to stand out by making Gianluigi Donnarumma (6th) shine.
The Italian goalkeeper intervened brilliantly on a cross from Ludovic Blas a few minutes later (12th). At the half-hour mark, Ousmane Dembélé overtook the opponent’s speed by hitting the axis before serving Vitinha who propelled the leather into the top corner of Steve Mandanda (32nd, 0-1). Before the break, PSG even doubled the lead after a superb opening from Warren Zaire-Emery for Achraf Hakimi behind the Rennes defense. The Moroccan full-back could then calmly adjust the Breton goalkeeper with a well-aimed header (36th, 0-2). In added time of the first period, Kylian Mbappé set off like a bomb to challenge the last opposing wall but the latter repelled the attempt of the French attacker (45th + 2).
PSG wins without trembling
After the break, the Stade Rennais players returned to the field with better intentions. Much more inclined towards attack, Benjamin Bourigeaud’s teammates created several situations before Amine Harit reduced the gap by taking advantage of a good cross from Ludovic Blas (56th, 1-2). Unfortunately for the Bretons, Randal Kolo Muani, who came into play only a few seconds earlier, found the fault on his first ball to give the Parisians a clear advantage (58th, 1-3). Inspired, the new entrant even achieved a double but this second achievement was ultimately logically canceled for an offside position on his part (63rd).
At a completely unbridled end to the match, the Parisian club continued to insist. Achraf Hakimi missed a great opportunity to increase the score by not serving his teammates in the opposing penalty area (79th) then Brdley Barcolait missed his face to face with Steve Mandanda (82nd). While Bertug Ozgur Yildirim found Gianlui Donnarumma’s crossbar on a free kick from his captain (85th), Kylian Mbappé was completely holed after crossing the entire field then dribbling past the Breton goalkeeper (86th). Thanks to this great victory, PSG returns to third place on the podium before hosting Strasbourg on the next day of Ligue 1 then AC Milan in the Champions League.
