Rennes save the honor, Saint-Etienne without victory and without qualification

Stade Rennais and AS Saint-Etiennes closed their European season by winning, for the first, a prestigious victory against Lazio Rome (2-0) and losing, for the second, against Wolfsburg ( 1-0), Thursday, December 12th. The two French clubs were already, before playing, eliminated from the Europa League.

• Victory of Rennes face Romans little concerned

In the group of Rennais, the Romanians of Cluj assured Thursday their qualification by beating Celtic Glasgow: eliminated in any case, the players of Lazio will have no regrets. They did not seem very concerned on the ground of Roazhon Park, a few days after having inflicted to Juventus Turin his first defeat of the season in Italy.

With Salin in goal, Boey, Nyamsi, Gnagnon and Doumbia behind, Grenier back in the middle, da Cunha and Gboho ahead, Julien Stephan had decided to line up a little experimental team. Some nice shots were used in the mouth for the first goal of Gnagnon: in pivot and back to the goal in the area, the player trained in Rennes and loaned by Sevilla FC converted a discount from the head of Boey (30^e).

The second period was less amusing, the Romans still being little concerned, multiplying the faults, the simulations, the approximations, and leaving young Rennes, delighted with the windfall, to put their trust in a well-filled Roazhon Park. A nice shot of Boey (66^e), just above the frame, would have deserved a better spell. At 87^e Gnagnon has again emerged, timely, to reoffend by taking a close shot of Tait repelled by Proto (87^e). The Rennais get the only victory of their European journey, and finish in the last place of the group E.

• For AS Saint-Etienne, a European season without a win

After four draws and a loss in the Europa League, the St Etienne went to the Germans in Wolfsburg on Thursday night, hoping to finish on a positive note their European journey.

The team of Claude Puel came with three objectives without flavor: quickly forget his European failure, test several of his young and rest his executives for the reception of Paris-Saint-Germain Sunday in the league. A shot by Wolfsburg defender Paulo Otavio at 52^e minute (1-0), after a first half during which the Germans had hit the post twice, to extinguish any hope of Saint-Etienne's victory. The Wolfsburg team started the game weighed down by six defeats in their last eight games. Saint-Etienne finished in third place in his group and did not advance to the round of 32.