Difficult evening for French clubs. Rennes and Saint-Etienne both performed poorly on Thursday in the Europa League. Stade Rennais, reduced to ten and nine players, lost 1-0 to the Romanians of Cluj.
Julien Stéphan, the Rennes coach, is weakened by this new catastrophic evening, started by the expulsion in the 5th minute of his goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy. The Bretons conceded a goal early in the game, by Deac, before a new expulsion, this time from Camavinga, in the 46th minute of play. Rennes remains on ten games without a win (7 defeats, 3 draws) since late August.
Saint-Etienne draws
Earlier in the evening, Saint-Etienne was again hooked on his pitch, by the Ukrainian club Olexandriya (1-1). Victim of a rupture of the left Achilles tendon February 22 in Dijon during a meeting of championship of France, the Brazilian Gabriel Silva quickly opened the mark of a good shot of the left (8th) after a pass of Romain Hamouma, celebrating his return to the starting lineup of the Greens after eight months of stopping. Alas for him, he was less happy a few minutes later by scoring a goal against his side (14th) at the reception of a center delivered from the left wing by Maxym Treyakov allowing Olexandriya to equalize.
This draw, the second consecutive home after the conceded October 3 against Wolfsburg (1-1), nevertheless allows Saint-Etienne to keep the hope of a qualification for the round of 32. Tied with Olexandrya (2 pts) in Group I, they are only three points behind Wolfsburg and La Gantoise, who were neutralized (1-1).