Rennes (AFP)

Rennes, running out of fuel, was once again surprised 2-0 by Reims, his little pet peeve, on Sunday for the 5th day of L1, a bad omen before the shock against Tottenham in the Europa League Conference.

With only 5 points in 5 league matches, the Rennais now fall to 12th place, far from their European ambitions and the 15 points of the Parisian leader.

However, the slope will increase in the coming days, since Rennes awaits Tottenham on Thursday for their first C4 match before a delicate trip in a week to Marseille.

Even if the English opponents were corrected 3-0 on Saturday by Crystal Palace, the Rennais will have to show another face on pain of receiving a lesson of another magnitude.

Very little dangerous, not to say amorphous offensively, the new partners of Gaëtan Laborde let their Sunday visitors take the lead in the first act.

- Punishment -

Defensively, Bruno Genesio's men displayed a lack of guilty aggressiveness on the ball on the whole of the beautiful collective action which brought the strike of the right bringing the strike of the right of Hugo Ekitike, served in the box by Ilan Kebbal (0-1, 25th).

The Bretons showed more desire and intention in the second half, but they were punished against by skillful Champenois: N'Dri Koffi, 19, who had replaced Ekitike shortly before, took advantage of a total absence defensive mastery of the equally young Warmed Omari to roll his shot into the goal of Romain Salin (0-2, 66th).

The distress of Rennes players on the 2nd goal of Reims scored by N'dri Philippe Koffi (center) at Roazhon, September 12, 2021 LOIC VENANCE AFP

Genesio, who had criticized his players for having played "in ballerinas" two weeks ago in Angers (another 2-0 defeat) then railed on Friday against their lack of "requirement", then launched his young guard with Kamaldeen Sulemana, 19, Matthis Abline, 18, and Mathys Tel, 16, in an attempt to breathe life into his attack, but to no avail.

In L1, Rennes' last victory over Reims dates back to April 2016. Since then, the Rouge et Noir have now conceded 5 defeats and 2 draws.

With this first success of the season, after three draws and one defeat, Oscar Garcia's men showed good dispositions, in a convincing 5-3-2, with in particular a Kebbal as moving as it was attractive.

© 2021 AFP