A week after winning their Ligue 1 opener with 10 men, Rennes played almost the whole game at Lorient on Sunday with nine, but this time lost 4-0.
“We need aggression,” said Rennes coach Habib Beye. “Last year we didn’t have enough, now we have too much.”
The trouble for Rennes once again started before kickoff.
Last week, central defender Mikayil Faye overslept and missed the season-opening win over Marseille in which another defender, Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, was sent off and suspended for Sunday’s game.
With right back Przemyslaw Frankowski injured, Moussa Al-Tamari was due to take over at wingback. But the Jordanian arrived late for a pre-match meeting and was dropped by Beye.
Mahdi Camara, a summer arrival from Saint-Etienne, stepped in for his Rennes debut. It lasted four minutes.
The camera caught Lorient’s Dermane Karim in the head with his boot, and he was sent off.
In the 10th minute, Christopher Wooh, the last defender, brought down Aiyegun Tosin, who was running in on goal. Wooh was sent off.
He had come off the bench the previous week when Ait Boudlal saw red in the 31st minute.
“Unfortunately, both red cards were deserved,” said Beye.
Statistical service Opta said its Ligue 1 records went back to 1992, and it could find no previous instance of two players from the same team being sent off in the first 10 minutes.
Rennes almost opened the scoring when Seko Fofana hit the angle of the crossbar and post in the 21st minute.
After an hour’s practice playing short-handed last week, the nine men held out until the fourth minute of first-half added time when Sambou Soumano gave the hosts the lead.
The visitors then unravelled. Tosin added a second two minutes into the second half, Pablo Pagis struck in the 65th minute, and Theo Le Bris pounced four minutes later.
“Once we were down to nine men, it was a match we could no longer control, a match where we unfortunately had to shut up shot, where we could no longer have any control over anything,” said Beye.
Last week’s Rennes win provoked a brawl in the Marseille changing room that led to that club initially showing red cards to two of its own players.
After the fight between star French international Adrien Rabiot and English winger Jonathan Rowe, the club said they had put both players up for sale.
The English winger left on Sunday, bought by Bologna in Serie A.
Star midfielder Rabiot may be forgiven.
“He made a mistake, but I hope there is a chance we can put things back together. I am not going to close the door on anyone,” coach Roberto De Zerbi said after a 4-2 victory at Paris FC on Saturday that improved the mood at the club.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Lyon continued their good start to the campaign after a turbulent summer beset by financial problems, beating Metz 3-0 at home, while Nice gained their first points, winning 3-1 at home to Auxerre.
European champions Paris Saint-Germain made it two wins from two to start the season by beating Angers 1-0 on Friday thanks to a Fabian Ruiz goal.
AFP
