But: Barcola (30e68e), Lee (58e) for PSG // Kalimuendo (75e SP) for the Red and Black
Paris Saint-Germain could not offer anything other than a victory on a night of Fashion Week in the capital. In its Palermo-style pink jersey, PSG with a gala Bradley Barcola dominated without forcing Stade Rennais (3-1), too tender, too messy and simply too limited, under the eyes of François-Henri Pinault and by Salma Hayek, dressed in red and black for the occasion, while we are still wondering as October approaches what the ambitions of a Breton team overhauled this summer can really be (and yet, it there was only one rookie in the starting lineup).
The host of absentees from the Parisian side (Gianluigi Donarumma, Désiré Doué, Vitinha, Marco Asensio, Gonçalo Ramos) has in any case forced Luis Enrique to find a new option for his favorite position of false 9, in the person of Lee Kang-in . Too bad for Randal Kolo Muani, who started on the bench and saw his friends make the Rennes suffer in almost all areas of the game. Captain Marquinhos thought he would blow up the Auteuil corner for the first time, who had just undressed from his tifo, but was cooled by the VAR, logically signaling an offside position following a deflection of Beraldo’s head (4e). Julien Stéphan’s band, still in its evolving 3-4-3, for a moment thought that the football gods had chosen their side. Ousmane Dembélé played Ousmane Dembélé, often being brilliant in his way of making the difference, then despairing in his inability to finish well, as when he shot Steve Mandanda after blocking a small bridge from Leo Ostigard (6e) or even forgot Achraf Hakimi in the center, preferring to light the small net in a more closed angle (18e).
The Barcola parade
The Moroccan international took inspiration from his friend by lighting the crossbar from very close range after a strong cross from Bradley Barcola, who had perhaps touched the ball with his hand (19e). The new darling of the Park is better with his feet and he showed it to prevent PSG from getting frustrated: shifted by Dembélé, this time, the Frenchman fixed Ostigard to perfectly curl a winning shot (1-0, 30e). Right at the time when the visitors seemed to be suffering less and gaining confidence, which undoubtedly led to Christopher Wooh’s guilty loss of the ball. At the limit defensively, too poor offensively, Rennes had all the difficulty in the world to exist in the sometimes rainy night at Porte de Saint-Cloud. The strike far from the cage of Ludovic Blas (15e), the failed acrobatic flip of the same man (27e) and the soft shot of Arnaud Kalimuendo (44e) did not create any illusions, and Paris folded the matter after the break.
After a little slack, a fairly normal phase for a 22-year-old player, Barcola put Rennes to torment, starting with poor Østigård, saved by a save from Mandanda, who then had to resolve to crack two more times. The former Lyonnais played the detonator again, with a firecracker from the right onto the post, leaving Lee to follow to score with a diving header (2-0, 58e). He then regained his goalscoring habit by finishing in the empty goal after a cross from Hakimi from the right (3-0, 68e)making us forget Mandanda’s splendid reflex save a few minutes earlier against Fabian Ruiz. What to do to avoid sinking? Stéphan’s changes and the scenario of the match (coupled with the exit of the evening executioner) will at least have allowed the Bretons to finish better. A gesture from Beraldo in the area gave Kalimuendo a penalty (3-1, 75e)and we even wondered if the story could have been different without the firm arm of Safonov on a strike from Gronbaek (84e) and without the goal denied to Alidu Seidu for a handball (87e). It was in truth too late for the Rennais, close to conceding a fourth from Kolo Muani and logically beaten by PSG, who impose their rhythm on OM and Monaco four days before facing Arsenal in London. It probably won’t be the same film.
Relive PSG’s victory against Rennes (3-1)
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