Stade Rennais FC 4-1 Olympique Lyonnais

THE MATCH

Rennes welcomed Lyon to Brittany with just goal-difference separating the sides in fifth and sixth respectively. Neutrals might have expected an evenly matched affair, but instead the hosts bombarded the OL goal. Martin Terrier set the tone early on with a low drive which stung Anthony Lopes's gloves (2') before seeing another chance saved at point-blank range (8'). Lovro Majer was given his first start for Rennes following his summer arrival from Dinamo Zagreb, and he pulled the strings magnificently in midfield. His chipped through-ball found Laborde whose subsequent shot was cleared off the line by Léo Dubois, and when Terrier followed up on the rebound Bruno Guimaraes got enough of his body in the way as Lyon held on (17'). Laborde (26') and Flavien Tait (39') both saw shots saved by Lopes before the hosts took a thoroughly deserved lead into the interval, Laborde heading home his fifth Rennes goal from a Benjamin Bourigeaud corner (45').

Truffert for dessert

Peter Bosz sent striker Islam Slimani on for midfielder Guimaraes for the second half in an attempt to upset the balance of the game, but the one-way-traffic continued at first, and Rennes pulled further clear five minutes after the restart when Traoré reacted quickly to another saved Laborde shot to fire home his first league goal since December 2020 (50'). Lopes pulled off another fine reaction save to keep a Bourigeaud header out soon after (60'). Having covered every blade of grass for the first hour, Rennes began to tire late in the game, though and Lyon were unfortunate not to pull one back through an Emerson Palmieri free-kick which tested Alfred Gomis to his limits (75'). Truffert had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes when he arrested that attempted comeback, though, racing through to make it 3-0 on the counter (76'). before volleying home the goal of the game (83'). Lucas Paqueta scored a late consolation from the penalty spot (90'+3) and it ended 4-1.

THE PLAYER: Lovro Majer

Majer arrived at Roazhon Park this summer from Croatia carrying a hip injury and has had to watch on as Tait, Baptiste Santamaria and Jonas Martin have dominated the central midfield positions for les Rouge et Noir. He lined up alongside the first two of them here as coach Bruno Génésio switched to a 4-3-3, and outshone them both. If Lopes hadn't had such a stunning game at the other end, he would have had a hatful of assists.

THE STAT: 0

Lyon didn't have a single attempt on goal in the first half. The last time les Gones were stunted to such a degree in Ligue 1 Uber eats was back in November 2012, when they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Toulouse FC, for whom Wissam Ben Yedder - now of AS Monaco - scored twice.