Europa League Conference – round of 16 first leg: Rennes loses to Leicester (2-0)

Europa League Conference

In Rennes, it’s not just for the attack

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YESTERDAY AT 11:36 PM

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As their coach had requested, the Bretons nevertheless entered the match with a lot of desire. Without complex, they put their foot on the ball in the opposing camp and Gaëtan Laborde narrowly missed Kasper Schmeichel’s cage on his small recovery from the left at the penalty spot (5th). Despite the many percussions of Jérémy Doku on the left, the visitors however lacked offensive power in the zone of truth and Leicester slowly regained the ascendancy.

The Foxes then really made the Rennes defense suffer. From his camp, Caglar Söyüncü launched Harvey Barnes on the left and the winger overwhelmed the wait-and-see Hamary Traoré before giving back in the axis towards Albrighton who catapulted the ball into the left corner of Alfred Gomis from a heavy recovery at the entrance to the surface (1-0, 30th). Traore continued to suffer seriously against the untenable Barnes and Rennes had to wait until the very end of the first half to fight back. Jonas Martin however rushed on his axial recovery and sent the ball into the stands (45th + 1).

With the VAR, Rennes would have had a penalty

Again more biting in the recovery, the Rennais pushed but did not obtain a penalty despite the double hand of Söyüncü to slow down a recovery from Nayef Aguerd from six meters following a free kick from Benjamin Bourigeaud (53rd). Masked by a forest of players, the referee saw nothing and could not be helped by the VAR, absent in the competition. Leicester raised their tone again and Genesio decided to switch from a flat 4-4-2 to a more consistent 4-3-3 in midfield by launching Flavien Tait and Lovro Majer (64th). The Croatian also brought a new technical touch and a better offensive inspiration.

Shifted to the left, Martin Terrier was able to tumble into the opposing area and placed a cross shot that Schmeichel repelled with his foot (74th). Tait, he placed a very nice grazing axial strike at 20 meters which passed right next to the target (79th). Rennes pushed to equalize in this intense and contested match but ultimately only managed one shot on the pitch at the King Power Stadium (13 attempts). Obviously insufficient. It was even Leicester who had the last word thanks to the incoming Iheanacho who sanctioned the errors of recovery from Aguerd and Warmed Omari on an axial breakthrough from the Foxes. The Nigerian striker concluded with a perfect shot from the left (90th + 3) to allow Brendan Rodgers’ men to approach their trip to Roazhon Park with a substantial margin. Rennes will have to do much more on their ground.