Rennes drops Reims

So close, so far away, Reindeer

And Reims delivered a scary duel to open the curtain of this 23rd day of Ligue 1 this Friday. There was the photograph of the ranking, already, with a small point which separated these two stables condemned to play their maintenance. But there were also everyone's trajectories. When the Breton club remained surfaces on a new cycle barely tarnished by the reverse against Lille last week, his evening opponent had not known the taste of victory since November.

It is in this funny context that this balance of power took place. Powered on the benches of these two clubs a few weeks ago, Habib Beye and Samba Diawara had made strong choices. The Stade Rennais coach notably revived Steve Mandanda to fill the suspension of Brice Samba, while Seko Fofana also holds. Opposite, Reims fell on his top scorer Keito Nakamura. And in this duel at a distance, it is the Rennes who had the last word.

An ideal scenario for Rennes

It must be said that the scenario of the meeting greatly facilitated the task of the men of Habib Beye since from the fifth minute, Kipré, guilty of a gross fault on James, was expelled directly, leaving his teammates in inferiority for the almost all of the meeting.

An advantage of which the Rennais knew how to benefit fairly quickly. After a hand of Koné on a strike from Assignon, the locals obtained a penalty that their top scorer, Kalimuendo, transformed without blinking (1-0, 5th). Two major facts that conditioned the rest.

In an armchair, Rennes has managed this advantage, even if the Beye team lacked realism in its attempts to make the break. Asphyxiated and out of idea, the Rémois had to wait until the hour of play to make their first shot, by Nakamura … The score has no longer evolved, while Reims even finished new with the expulsion of the young Ibrahim (89th).

This result allows Rennes to carry out an excellent operation in the classification since the Bretons offer themselves a real puff of oxygen with a small leap in the classification, in 11th place. For Reims, the situation remains very worrying and the next few weeks promise to be agitated.