This Thursday evening, Stade Rennais traveled to Poland to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League. Abused, the Rouge et Noir lost (2-1) and will have to turn things around next week at Roazhon Park.
An experimental defense that didn’t work
As surprising as it was at kick-off, Bruno Génésio’s choice to field a four-man defense with Spencer, Omari, Belocian and Truffert didn’t pay off at all. The locals also opened the scoring on their very first opportunity. After a long ball in depth on which Djed Spence was completely holed up, Bohdan Mykhaïlytchenko offered a precise center back for Dmytro Kryskiv who concluded perfectly (1-0, 11th).
The defensive mistakes then multiplied on the Rennes side and the Shakhtar players took advantage of it. On a similar action at the first goal, where Djed Spence was once again on the street, Lesley Ugochukwu offered a penalty to the opponents just before the break. Artem Bondarenko then transformed the opportunity with difficulty under the hand of Steve Mandanda (2-0, 45th). And even if Rennes did not concede a third goal in the second act, the Breton rearguard never showed serenity. Changes will be absolutely necessary for the second leg.
Bourigeaud will be absent on the return
While he did not achieve his greatest performance in the colors of Stade Rennais, the midfielder will not even have the opportunity to catch up in the return match. After a foul in the middle of the field, he cleared the ball away which earned him a yellow card from the referee. A gesture of humor paid cash and which will undoubtedly handicap the Breton club during the reception of Donetsk at Roazhon Park.
Slight advantage Donetsk before the return
With this defeat (2-1) of Stade Rennais, Shakhtar puts on the habit of favorites for the qualification before the return duel which will take place next week. Amine Gouiri’s teammates will have to show a much better face to hope to reverse the situation. But as we know, in a Roazhon Park which will be full for the occasion, the SRFC has the weapons to give its supporters a great European evening.
Toko Ekambi restores hope
Even if they were still in difficulty defensively, the Rennais chained the chances after returning from the locker room. Often lacking success in their attempts, they finally managed to reduce the score after a corner badly returned by the Ukrainians. The inevitable Jérémy Doku inherited the ball before delivering a millimeter center for Karl Toko Ekambi.
The Cameroonian, who had missed the inevitable earlier in the game, this time did not tremble to send the leather into the back of the net (2-1, 59th). The duel between the two formations was then fully relaunched, while the bretilliens supporters came in number, continued to give voice to encourage the Red and Black.
Doku, the strong man of Stade Rennais
Like his match against Toulouse (3-1 defeat) last weekend, the Belgian winger was the handyman on the Rennes side. Present in the oven and at the mill, he did not hesitate to multiply his efforts to go and recover balloons. In great technical success, Jérémy Doku constantly managed to thwart the pressure of his opponents. And his involvement eventually allowed his team to reduce the mark after a superb assist for Karl Toko Ekambi. Replaced by Ibrahim Salah (71st), the Red Devil has been back on its feet for several weeks and could be Stade Rennais’ key player for the second half of the season.
