Rennes (AFP)

Rennes turned the page of its complicated fall by beating Metz 1-0 on Wednesday at Roazhon Park, a 4th victory in a row which allows it to temporarily hang up the leading car of Ligue 1 before the matches of the evening.

For Julien Stéphan's 100th match on the bench, the Rennais won on a goal from Clément Grenier (51st), against the catchy Messins, who had several opportunities to equalize at the end of the match.

Now 4th with 31 points, the Rennais are now expected to resume for a derby on January 6 in Nantes necessarily particular, with Raymond Domenech announced on the bench of the Canaries.

The Messins, who remained on two wins in a row and were undefeated for six away matches, remain in the peloton of pursuers, 10th at 23 points.

Carried by the vivacity of Benjamin Bourigeaud and the Doku-Traoré pair in the right lane, Rennes quickly gained the upper hand in the game but for a long time came up against the defensive block of Metz, which proceeded by several dangerous counter-attacks .

But if the match remained animated, the opportunities remained rare.

Rennes could however have quickly opened the scoring on a strike from Bourigeaud involuntarily countered by Mbaye Niang (9th) or on a sequence of the same Bourigeaud, served by Clément Grenier, who got rid of Boubakar Kouyaté but saw his strike blocked by the goalkeeper Marc-Aurèle Caillard (23rd).

The Messins also had their chances on a powerful strike from Farid Boulaya diverted with the tip of the gloves by Romain Salin (14th), a solitary charge from Aaron Leya Iseka who ended up in the arms of Salin (30th) and especially a strike from Lamine Gueye, launched alone by Boulaya in the back of the defense (50th).

It was finally the Rennais who found the net on a left strike along the Grenier post, served by Martin Terrier in the area (1-0, 52nd).

It's a new revenge for the midfielder who disappeared from the radar last season, often given a starting point, already author of an assist on Sunday in Lorient.

Under a cold wind and some heavy downpours, Metz thought to equalize on a superb recovery from Vagner, who came into play a few minutes later, but the goal was canceled for an offside position (74th).

Rejuvenated by this opportunity, Frédéric Antonetti's men pushed through the end of the match to equalize, helped by a series of scrambles from the Rennes defense.

But Rennes held on and young Jérémy Doku, author of his first two assists in the last two matches, was still very close to scoring his first goal in Red and Black in the final seconds.

© 2020 AFP