M'Baye Niang, who had not scored a league goal since December 21, scored twice this Sunday against Nîmes. - JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP

  • Stade Rennais won at the very end of the game this Sunday afternoon against Nîmes (2-1)
  • M'Baye Niang, who had not scored a league goal since December 21, scored twice for the Rennais
  • The Breton club took advantage of this victory to take back the third place that Lille had stolen from it on Saturday evening.

The audience at Roazhon Park is used to the thrilling matches this season. Facing Nîmes, the Rennes players again played with the nerves of their supporters this Sunday afternoon by snatching the victory (2-1) at the very end of the match on a header from M'Baye Niang, author of a double.

M'Baye Niang, author of a double this evening after seven games without scoring in L1: "I am very happy this evening, I had been told a lot that I had not yet scored in L1 in 2020" #SRFCNO pic. twitter.com/hR7U2LxvcV

- François Rauzy (@RauzyFrancois) February 23, 2020

Stade Rennais thus ended a negative spiral of three games without a win (two defeats and a draw) during which Julien Stéphan's players had not found the net. "By dint of pushing, putting players on top, with more offensives on the field, we hoped to be able to win the match," said coach Julien Stéphan at the end of the game, very happy that his team had "Knew how to concretize an archidomination".

Another victory won in money time

The meeting had however started in a funny way for the Rennais. While we had been playing for only 34 seconds, Nolan Roux opened the scoring for the Crocos with a powerful shot from across the crossbar, scoring the fastest goal of the season in Ligue 1.

Nolan Roux scored the fastest goal of the season against Rennes via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/1q32jcaSUC

- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) February 23, 2020

But Julien Stéphan's players quickly returned to the game with a strike from their Senegalese striker (7th), who had not scored in the league since December 21. Helped in the second half by the expulsion of Nîmes captain Anthony Briançon for a clothesline on Camavinga, the Rennais finally made the difference, once again, in money time. "This is the group's mentality since the start of the season, we are carried by this state of mind of not letting go," said striker M'Baye Niang.

Despite a heroic @paul_bernardoni, the @staderennais ended up winning 🔴⚫

The Bretons do a great job in the classification and respond to @losclive in the podium race ⚡ # SRFCNO pic.twitter.com/7LzOXGmK0R

- Ligue 1 Conforama (@ Ligue1Conforama) February 23, 2020

With this success, Rennes takes the opportunity to return to Lille, which had snatched its third place on the podium on Saturday evening. "We are not focused on Lille, only on us," said Julien Stéphan, who does not shy away from his pleasure. "What is satisfactory is to have taken back two points on Monaco, three on Montpellier and to have widened a small gap on the pursuers".

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