Stade Rennais FC 6-0 Girondins de Bordeaux

THE MATCH

Rennes welcomed Bordeaux to their Roazhon Park with 14-point advantage over their visitors and the gulf in ability was tangible early on, with the hosts dominating possession and carving out the lions' share of chances. Martin Terrier saw an early shot deflected wide for a corner (6') before Gaëtan Laborde headed a Benjamin Bourigeaud corner over the crossbar (23'). Les Rouge et Noir then took a deserved lead just past the half hour when Terrier reacted quickly in the box with a first-time finish on the turn for his 10th goal of the season (33'). Jonas Martin had knocked down that chance and he earned the free-kick which led to Rennes' second, Bourigeaud stepping up to curl home an unstoppable finish beyond a helpless Benoît Costil (43').

Rennes rampant

Bordeaux's hopes of getting back into the match suffered a blow less than five minutes into the second half when Issouf Sissokho was given his marching orders for another rash sliding challenge on Martin (50'), and Rennes thought they had further punished Bordeaux from the subsequent free-kick when Laborde headed home Bourigeaud's cross, but the offside flag went up against the striker (52'). There was no denying Laborde on the hour, though. Jérémy Doku stole the ball from Stian Rode Gregersen on the edge of the box and slipped Laborde in, and he comfortably converted his seventh Rennes goal of the season (61'). Second half-substitutes Lovro Majer and Adrien Truffert then combined to make it 4-0 (69'). Costil then denied Majer a fifth (80') but there was still time for for Serhou Guirassy to add gloss to the scoreline with a brace minutes after coming on (89', 90'+2) and it ended 6-0.

THE PLAYER: Jonas Martin

The goals may have been scored by others, but this was a midfield masterclass from Martin. He was central to almost every pivotal moment of this match, assisting the first, earning the free-kick for the second, and drawing Sissokho into the rash foul for Bordeaux's sending off. Not that Bourigeaud doesn't deserve a special mention for having scored each of his last four direct free-kicks...

THE STAT: 4

Despite their lofty league position - Rennes are now fourth - this was their first win in four Ligue 1 Uber Eats outings stretching back to their 5-0 thrashing of AS Saint-Étienne in early December. Clermont Foot 63 and Stade Brestois 29 are next up before a meeting with league leaders Paris Saint-Germain, by which time the Bretons will hope to have put their recent wobble well and truly behind them.