Stade Rennais thought they had done the hardest part. For its second Europa League game of the season, the club coached by Bruno Genesio led two goals to nil against a more experienced Fenerbahçe in Europe. Unfortunately for the Bretons, the end of the match turned in favor of the Turks who knew how to put the pressure they needed to have Hamari Traoré expelled and obtain a penalty in added time. Frustrating for the SRFC, even if his coach believes that his players had their best game of the start of the season
“The feeling I have is that we had a big European Cup match. This is perhaps the most consistent game since the start of the season. We will have to rely on it if we want to achieve our objectives. (…) We have to grow, even if we have a lot of experience. We ended up with a very young team. Opposite, Valencia came into play and he had more experience than the whole team. He changed the course of the game.”he said, before discussing the many unconverted 3-0 chances.
A lack of efficiency, but a reference match
“It’s the real turning point of the game. We know that in the European Cup, the third goal is essential. We had the opportunity to put it on. We lacked success. We conceded the 2-1 goal which revived them. They knew how to take us where we shouldn’t have gone. That’s how we’re going to learn”. Finally, captain excluded after a bad mood, Hamari Traoré wanted to congratulate his teammates.
“I think we have shown that we have the level to play in Europe. I’m proud of what the team showed. It is up to us to erase the errors. It was a real European Cup match. We were good with and without the ball. We had the third to kill the game. (…) It was the whole team that was downcast. It’s not just Bourigeaud who made a mistake, I made one too. Football is a team sport. You have to take the points you deserve. We are with Bourigeaud. The team will raise their heads.”. From Sunday against OM?