A penalty at the death converted by Gonçalo Ramos salvages a point for Les Parisiens after a below-par display against Rennes at the Parc des Princes. The Breton side opened the scoring via a fabulous finish from Amine Gouiri in the first half.
Following Rennes’ elimination from Europe during the week, Julien Stéphan opted to heavily rotate his side, leaving the likes of Martin Terrier, Benjamin Bourigeaud and Adrien Truffert on the bench. Luis Enrique on the other hand, entrusted the attack to frontline of Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé, and Bradley Barcola. It was a less-than inspiring start for Les Parisiens, Hakimi coming closest with a blocked shot in the 6-yard area within the first ten minutes of play, with a strike from Vitinha testing Mandanda several minutes later.
The visitors opened the scoring on the break, with a bursting run from Amine Gouiri into the box and a fine lofted finish past Donnarumma with the outside of his right boot. Stephan’s counter-attacking plan looked like it was working, with the Breton side soaking up pressure in their mid-block before looking to pounce and catch PSG off guard.
The second half would come quickly, and so did Luis Enrique’s first role of the dice, Marco Asensio replacing Lee Kang-In after the interval. The first chance after the break would fall to Kylian Mbappé, who uncharacteristically dragged his shot wide of Mandanda’s right post. Ousmane Dembélé would test Mandanda with a floated shot, before Mbappé’s first time strike fizzed just over the bar a few minutes later.
Mbappé taken off after mediocre performance
Enrique then made a big call to take off captain Kylian Mbappé and Bradley Barcola and replace with Randal Kolo Muani and Gonçalo Ramos. The Madrid-bound attacker was greeted with mild whistles as he left the pitch (mostly from the travelling Rennes supporters). The action would move down their end of the pitch, as Benjamin Bourigeaud’s tap-in unbelievably fell wide of Donnarumma’s right post.
Paris would press for an equaliser going into the final ten minutes of the game, with Ramos coming close after Asensio fizzed and inviting ball into the box. Ramos would be involved once again, going down in the box to earn a penalty – which was then swiftly ruled out by VAR. After a close strike from range via Fabian Ruiz, Ramos would come close again, dribbling past several players before being fouled in the box – the referee would go to the screen a second time and give a penalty to Les Parisiens. The Portuguese international struck his spot-kick emphatically past Mandanda to rescue a point for the home side.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN PLAYER RATINGS:
Gianluigi Donnarumma, 5
Achraf Hakimi, 5
Danilo Pereira, 5
Beraldo, 5
Lucas Hernandez, 5
Kang-In Lee, 4
Vitinha, 5
Fabian Ruiz, 4
Ousmane Dembélé, 5
Kylian Mbappé, 4
Bradley Barcola, 5
Others: Marco Asensio, 5, Gonçalo Ramos, 7 , Randal Kolo Muani, 5
RENNES PLAYER RATINGS:
Steve Mandanda, 5
Guéla Doué, 5
Christopher Wooh, 5
Jeanuël Belocian, 5
Alidu Seidu, 5
Ibrahim Salah, 6
Baptiste Santamaria, 6
Ludovic Blas, 5
Desiré Doué, 5
Amine Gouiri, 7
Arnaud Kalimuendo, 5
Others: Benjamin Bourigeaud, 6 Martin Terrier, 5
GFFN | George Boxall
