Rennes temporarily took the lead of the French Championship by overthrowing Monaco (2-1), Saturday, September 19, on behalf of the fourth day, while Lens is temporarily on the podium, on the strength of his victory (2-1) in Bordeaux.
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Rennes snatch victory against Monaco
Rennes snatched the victory against Monaco. With a total of 10 points, Julien Stéphan’s men have now regained a head start over Saint-Etienne, who travels to Nantes on Sunday and will welcome them next week in his cauldron.
At Roazhon Park, the pace was steady from the start. Very quickly, the Monegasque pressing began to gain the upper hand, pushed by a Ben Yedder who regularly signaled his teammates to come up. Besieged, the Rennais multiplied the errors. And it was after a defensive error that Monaco opened the scoring: on a strike from Sofiane Diop, the young midfielder trained in Rennes but who had chosen to sign his first professional contract in Monaco two years ago, Steven Nzonzi and Da Silva got in the box and the ball landed in the feet of Ben Yedder, isolated in the corner. The French international opened his counter with a strike under the bar (0-1, 28e).
In the second half, Rennes started to push but the Monegasque block was well in place and its quick and dangerous revivals. Especially since Rennes still lacked precision, their young star Eduardo Camavinga always being a tone below his level. And Roazhon Park exulted when Nzonzi equalized with a pricked header, on a pass from young left side Adrien Truffert, 18, another nugget from the Rennes training center who made his Ligue 1 debut on Saturday (1-1, 81e).
Entered at the end of the first period in place of Maouassa, hit in an ankle, Truffert even gave the advantage to the Red and Black with a powerful strike from the left in the very last minutes (90e+2).
RC Lens performed very well and recorded their third consecutive success against Bordeaux (2-1), which allowed them to climb provisionally on the Ligue 1 podium.
Winners of PSG (1-0) and Lorient (3-2) last week, the Lensois confirmed their good momentum by winning in front of their audience thanks to goals from Ignatius Ganago (47e minute) and Gaël Kakuta from the penalty spot (59e). Samuel Kalu reduced the score in added time for the Girondins (95e).
Franck Haise’s players, who have never ceased to press the Bordelais and have developed a game carried forward, pocketed a well-deserved success. They could have won more widely by being more effective, especially during the first period.
Beaten by Nice on the first day, the Lensois have since achieved a faultless and already have nine points. With this success, they climb to the second step of the podium behind Saint-Etienne, who will play in Nantes (13e) Sunday. Seven other games are still on the program Saturday night and Sunday. The Girondins, who were undefeated (one victory and two draws) temporarily fall to eleventh place.
At the opening of this fourth day, Friday, a very worrying Lyon conceded a draw against Nîmes (0-0). The Lyonnais occupy the tenth place in the standings with only one victory in four games. Nîmes is twelfth.
