Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) lost 2-0 to Stade Rennais (Rennes) in Ligue 1 on Monday, 20 March 2023. Following that result, second-placed RC Lens are within single digits of the Parisians as they trail nine points . Christophe Galtier’s men have entered this contest with three wins and two losses in their last five matches across competitions.
They were eliminated from the Champions League after losing 3-0 on aggregate to Bayern Munich. However, they won their last league game 2-1 against Brest. Galtier mentions a strong line-up for this match has been fielded, even though the result was very disappointing.
The first half was fairly even as PSG and Rennes shared the ball for about the same amount of time. The hosts held on to the ball for 56 per cent in the first half and attempted six shots, hitting four times on target. The visitors, on the other hand, had four shots but only once on target. It was a free-flowing game and looked set to remain goalless going into the first half.
However, Karl Toko Ekambi had other ideas. Following an assist from Benjamin Bourigeaud, he was in the right place at the right time to make it 1-0 for the visitors on the stroke of halftime. Despite being the better team in terms of attacking momentum, PSG trailed by a goal at half-time.
Galtier made one change at the break as he brought on Warren Zaire-Emery for Timothee Pembele. He made this move to allow PSG to gain and maintain more control in the midfield areas where they can build attacks. However, those plans were abandoned before they worked as Rennes extended their lead just three minutes after the break.
Lesley Ugochukwu provided the assist for Arnaud Kalimuendo, who scored with a fine finish to make it 2-0 after 48 minutes. Despite having almost the entire half to defend, Rennes did well to shut down PSG. The hosts controlled 63 per cent of possession in the second half and had 11 shots, hitting four on target. The visitors only kept the ball 37 percent of the time, attempting six shots with two on target.
PSG were unable to keep pace with the game as they lost 2-0 against Rennes. In this match, there were several players who, in my opinion, were not very good. One of them is Juan Bernat. Bernat performed well on defense as he won two of his four duels, making two clearances, one interception and one tackle in the process. Even though they had to fail in Rennes’ two goals.
Gianluigi Donnarumma also did very little today as he only made one save and passed the ball with poor accuracy. It is shown clearly that all the players need to up their game for next matches so that they can secure championship for PSG this season.
ASL
