Ligue 1 – Rennes beats Toulouse and consolidates its third place

Rennes will pass the truce for the World Cup on the podium. The Bretons managed to beat Toulouse on Saturday as part of the 15th day of Ligue 1 (2-1). If Benjamin Bourigeaud logically opened the scoring (25th), Thijs Dallinga equalized for eye-catching visitors (55th). Arnaud Kalimuendo (58th) however quickly restored the advantage to Bruno Genesio’s men who trembled at the end but held on. Undefeated since the 4th day, Rennes is 3rd. Toulouse loses a third game in a row but its 12th place is encouraging.

Eager to bounce back after their goalless setbacks in Lens (3-0) then in front of Monaco (0-2), the Toulousains entered the meeting with desire and dynamism. They even jostled Bretons who were still a little too quiet during the first minutes. Except that the graduates failed to show themselves to be really dangerous. Quite the opposite of Rennes which hurt on its first sharp offensive. Bourigeaud launched the attack on the right of the midfield with a sombrero, Amine Gouiri and Lovro Majer relayed it for a nice center from the Croatian perfectly exploited (1-0, 25th).

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The Bretons were launched and Martin Terrier fired a missile in the axis that the excellent Maxime Dupé diverted with a tap (27th). The doorman of the Violets did the same on a placed shot from Gouiri (36th). Little in sight because little used, Dallinga missed the boat in stride with a missed header from six meters on the only Toulouse opportunity of the first period (37th). The visitors also suffered the injury of Zakaria Aboukhlal at half-time when he was the sharpest. Called for the World Cup, the Moroccan international was replaced by Brecht Dejeagere.

The incoming Belgian and his partners remained volunteers while their goalkeeper Dupé still shone on a shot from Majer (52nd). They stayed in the game and equalized following their first corner of the match, badly repelled by the Breton defense and effectively negotiated by Dallinga (1-1.55′). The young Dutch striker hadn’t scored since August and this third goal of the season did him a lot of good. Rennes however reacted immediately and Kalimuendo scored following a shot from Terrier repelled by Dupé after good work from Gouiri and Majer (2-1, 58th).

The debates still gained in intensity because Toulouse refused to bow their heads. Steve Mandanda had to fly away to divert the superb strike from Farès Chaibi (60th). The 37-year-old goalkeeper who will go to Qatar with the Blues is still flexible and bouncy. On the other hand, the Rennais never knew how to make the break and struggled in the last minutes against conquering visitors. They held on and validated a successful first part of the season. That of the Toulouse promoted is also despite some offensive shortcomings that will have to be corrected before the resumption on December 28.