In football, everything goes as planned, sometimes. But not always, and fortunately, we would be tempted to say. On Saturday, the derby between Nantes and Rennes first obeyed a certain logic, with visitors who display their superiority in the game. But the Canaries managed to overthrow the steam in the second period, to obtain a deserved draw (2-2).
For Valentin Rongier, it's a bit the same. Captain Rennais undoubtedly expected the hostile reception of the Nantes public, after this transfer to the rival which was experienced as a betrayal within his training club. On the other hand, the former Marseillais probably did not imagine that his team would lose foot after its release at halftime.
Rennes had indeed mastered the first period, marking by Ludovic Blas (29th SP) and Esteban Lepaul (35th). But on the return from the locker room, the Red and Black have completely disappeared from traffic, letting Nantes attack (11 shots at 1 in the second period), and eventually returned to the score thanks to Junior Mwanga (64th) and Youssef El-Arabi (90th+6).
Rongier, decisive exit …
The change between the two periods? The attitude of the Canaries, of course, but also that of the Rennais, disturbed by the outings of two key players. Habib Beye confirms: “I think we were destabilized by the injuries of Alidu Seidu at the head and Valentin Rongier at the calf, which were two engines of our team over the first period. Valentin on the balance and Alidu on the ability to mix our outings with three and go back to a defense with four, and especially to contain abline the possible situations of depth. We had less mastery. They put more intensity, more mastery too. »»
Injured at the start of the season, Seidu showed everything he could bring to this team. Rongier is also precious, since the 1st day, started with the captain's armband. This trip to Nantes made it possible to recall this.
