Paris Saint-Germain’s lead in the French Football League, Ligue 1, was reduced to three points following its 1-0 defeat at Rennes, on Sunday.
Rennes won its ninth consecutive home win in the top flight, a record for it, thanks to Hamari Toure’s goal in the second half, to inflict its second defeat in three league matches for its visitors.
Paris Saint-Germain stopped at 47 points from 19 matches, three points ahead of Lens, second in the standings, who defeated Auxerre 1-0 on Saturday.
Olympique de Marseille comes third, with 42 points, following defeating Troyes 3-1 on Saturday.
Despite the victory, Rennes, who has 37 points, fell to fifth place on goal difference, behind Monaco, who crushed its guest Ajaccio 7-1 thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s hat-trick earlier in the day.
Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos said, “Two defeats in the new year, we need to be more aggressive and stronger, if the team regains that, things will be fine.”
“We have to get that back quickly, we lost many points, and Lens and Marseille will not fall behind us.”
Kylian Mbappe, who returned to training following a break following participating in the team following the World Cup ended, sat on the bench.
Hugo Ekiteki led the Paris Saint-Germain attack with Lionel Messi and Neymar, but the team was clearly affected by the absence of injured midfielder Marco Verratti.
Warren Ziri-Emery (16 years old) became the youngest player to participate with Paris Saint-Germain in the league, but he is still far from the level of his Italian counterpart.
Rennes had the first opportunity in the 28th minute, when Arno Calimando hit a powerful ball that goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma narrowly removed.
Donnarumma kept his net clean following saving an attempt from Lovro Maier in the 33rd minute.
In light of the suffering of Paris Saint-Germain in the attack, coach Christophe Galtier was forced to involve Mbappe instead of Ikiteki following ten minutes of the break.
But Rennes kept up the pressure and it paid off when Traore turned an Adrian Troffer cross into the net.
And Juan Bernat almost equalized for the visitors with a powerful shot that goalkeeper Steve Mandanda sent over the crossbar nine minutes before the end, before the team surrendered to defeat.
Earlier, the Montpellier match once morest its guest, Nantes, was stopped in the 13th minute, following the landlord’s fans threw smoke bombs on the field.
The players returned to the stadium rooms before the match resumed a quarter of an hour later, as Nantes won 3-0.
Homophobic signs were spread in the stands, and perhaps the league will have to investigate.