Paris Saint-Germain bounced back from their damning 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United in the Champions League with a win over Rennes in Ligue 1.
Goals from Vitinha, Achraf Hakimi and substitute Randal Kolo Muani were enough for PSG to earn a win which sees them rise up to third in the Ligue 1 table.
In truth, it could have been a much, much more comfortable win had star man Kylian Mbappe brought his shooting boots with him to the Roazhon Park – the forward amazingly missed an open net in the game.
How the game unfolded
After a disastrous defeat to Newcastle in midweek, Paris Saint-Germain almost endured a disastrous start to proceedings in Rennes on Sunday too. A quick break led by the lightning-quick Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga almost culminated in an opening goal in the first five minutes of the game, with the 21-year-old stinging the palms of Gianluigi Donnarumma with a powerful effort from the edge of the box.
Rennes were made to rue that missed chance in the 32nd minute. A moment of magic from Vitinha would give PSG a 1-0 lead, with the midfielder brilliantly curling the ball into the top right corner of the net after creating space for a side-footed shot from the edge of the box.
A few minutes later, it was 2-0 to the visitors. The goal would come from another bit of class from one of PSG’s midfielders, this time it was youngster Warren Zaire-Emery who dinked a stunning ball over the top of the Rennes defence to Achraf Hakimi to head home
Rennes came out at the start of the second half with some renewed vigour. Kalimuendo-Muinga came close to scoring a goal of the season contender with an acrobatic volley in the 48th minute – an acrobatic volley that would fly just wide of the top right corner of the net.
The home side then deservedly got their goal in the 56th minute through Amine Gouiri. The wide midfielder race in in front of Hakimi at the back post to get his head on a clever dinked cross from Ludovic Blas.
That 2-1 scoreline didn’t last for too long however as, almost straight from kick-off, PSG were able to restore their two goal advantage through subsitute Randal Kolo Muani. With his first touch of the game, Kolo Muani was able to side-foot the ball into the top corner of the net after latching onto a low drilled cross from Hakimi.
After restoring their 3-1 lead, PSG dominated the game rather comfortably thereafter. Mbappe and Kolo Muani both came close to making it a route, with the former being denied Steve Mandanda and the latter by the offside flag after firing home when played through on goal.
In the 85th minute, Mbappe rather amazingly missed as clear-cut a chance as he’s ever likely to get. Having flicked the ball past Mandanda, PSG’s all-time record goalscorer missed an empty net – ballooning over the crossbar.
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6/10 – Made a few decent saves but once again failed to keep a clean sheet.
RB: Achraf Hakimi – 8/10 – Scored his fourth goal of the season already. He looks to be back to his very, very best.
CB: Milan Skriniar – 5/10 – Quite sloppy at times. You can see why he’s been criticised for his performances at PSG.
CB: Marquinhos – 6/10 – His deft backheel kickstarted the phase of play which led to PSG’s opening goal.
LB: Lucas Hernandez – 7/10 – A busy outing on the left flank as Hernandez won a game-high 11 duals.
CM: Warren Zaire-Emery – 7/10 – Played a wonderful ball over the top to create Hakimi’s goal.
CM: Manuel Ugarte – 6/10 – Did what he does well: broke up play and fed the ball to the players around him.
CM: Vitinha – 8/10 – Scored a stunning opening goal to settle the PSG nerves.
RW: Ousmane Dembele – 7/10 – Bagged an assist with a mazy run in the lead up to Vitinha’s goal.
ST: Goncalo Ramos – 6/10 – Stretched the Rennes defence well but didn’t contribute too much on the ball.
LW: Kylian Mbappe – 4/10 – Just not his night. Had his moments but missed an open net…which is bad and outweighs all the aforementioned ‘moments’.
Substitutes
SUB: Randal Kolo Muani (56′ for Ramos) – 7/10 – Scored immediately after coming off the bench.
SUB: Bradley Barcola (75′ for Dembele) – 6/10.
SUB: Fabian Ruiz (75′ for Ugarte) – 6/10.
SUB: Carlos Soler (88′ for Vitinha) – N/A.
Manager – Luis Enrique – 6/10 – Still plenty of work to be done, but there were some signs of improvement in the offensive third on Sunday.
Man of the match: Vitinha (PSG)
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90 Mins
