Rennes (AFP)
The poster is classic, but Rennes' ambitions and the revival in Nantes have given it a new European scent: even if no one assumes it, it is the L1 podium that will be at stake on Friday evening at Roazhon Park (20.45).
In the event of victory, Rennes would strengthen its 3rd place in the championship, while on the contrary, Nantes has the opportunity to return to two points from its Breton rival.
"It is not necessary to put additional pressure," tempers Julien Stéphan, the Rennes coach. "Each game, we approach it to win it, and whatever the result, I think nothing will be finished either way or the other."
The 2015-16 season is a good example: Rennes and Nantes were 6th and 7th, both at one point of the podium before their derby of the 29th day. Winner 4-1 at home, Rennes climbed to 4th place. Two months later, Rennes had finished the 8th season and Nantes 14th.
And this year too, the rest of the program promises to be full-bodied: Tuesday, Rennes will move to Lille and Nantes will receive PSG. And in this very tight championship in the middle, the two Breton flagships are only 9 and 6 points ahead of the 15th, Saint-Etienne.
- Reindeer "outperform" -
On both sides, there is an assault on modesty.
"The championship is long, you have to stay constant in motivation, in application", warns Christian Gourcuff, the Canaries' coach. "We never thought we were for another team. Humility is a first quality in sport".
In Rennes, Stéphan has only one word to say: the "outperforming" team.
For him, it will be necessary to wait for the international truce of March, just after the reception of Lyon, to know what Rennes can really claim. In the immediate future, his stated ambition remains "to continue to give emotions to the public" and "to produce quality offensive movements".
On these two plans, Rennes regaled Tuesday in Angers in an 8th finals of the Coupe de France high-flying, won 5 to 4 after extra time and at the end of the show.
But obviously, that was not enough: "If we want to have even higher ambitions, we cannot display such defensive shortcomings," railed Stéphan after the match. "Luck will not last much longer. We will have to put our heads back in place quickly," also grumbled forward M'Baye Niang.
Rennes' ambitions are also clearly manifested in the club's current efforts to bring in world champion Steven Nzonzi before the end of the winter transfer window.
- Rennes, Gourcuff does not want to talk about it -
In this context, the dynamics seem to benefit rather in Rennes, especially since Nantes showed a worrying apathy Sunday against Bordeaux (1-0 defeat) and that Gourcuff, who keeps an obvious resentment after his ouster from Rennes at the finish of the current management in November 2017, does not seem serene.
"I will not talk about Rennes," he said on Wednesday before cutting short his pre-match press conference.
But the Canaries remain on three straight away victories and have been able to prepare better than the Rennais, whose several pillars will still have in their legs the 120 minutes of madness Tuesday in Angers.
The key will undoubtedly be the solidity of the two defenses, among the very best in the championship (3rd tied with 19 goals conceded since August) but who both conceded four goals in their last French Cup match (5- 4 for Rennes in 8th against Angers, 3-4 for Nantes in 16th against Lyon).
And then, as Stéphan warned, "a derby is a special match, everything is overhauled, anything can happen".
© 2020 AFP