Responding to a disappointing draw against Stade de Reims last time out, Les Parisiens quickly got into their stride, but Marquinhos was denied an early opener having been offside when the ball went off Lucas Beraldo’s back.
Ousmane Dembele was a live spark, although the winger couldn’t find the end product required, with his bursts forward culminating in a shot trickling towards Steve Mandanda and another fizzing into the side netting while Ludovic Blas smashed his strike wildly off-target between those.
Achraf Hakimi then turned the ball onto the crossbar from inside the six-yard box before an attempted clearance in his own area bounced off Blas and went wide.
PSG’s breakthrough eventually came on the half-hour mark, with Baptiste Santamaria’s cynical foul on Joao Neves proving futile as Dembele roamed forward and offloaded the ball for Barcola to beautifully curl the ball inside the far post.
The hosts might have felt that they should have worked Mandanda again before the break with Lee Kang-In and Willian Pacho firing off-target while Fabian Ruiz’s attempt was deflected wide.
Even so, they went into half-time with their lead intact with Arnaud Kalimuendo’s tame effort trickling towards Matvey Safonov.
Similarly to the first half, PSG had an early goal ruled out shortly after the break due to Hakimi being offside.
While it wasn’t exactly déjà vu, it was certainly close with an eye-catching curling Barcola shot involved in the hosts’ second shortly before the hour mark, although this time it bounced off the post for Lee to head into the vacant net.
Having provided so much scintillating play, Barcola had a simple finish from Hakimi’s pass in the 68th minute before being brought off as part of an energy-saving triple change from Luis Enrique.
A handball from Beraldo conceded a penalty that Kalimuendo coolly converted, but the visitors’ lifeline was retracted when Alidu Seidu was adjudged to have handled the ball before smashing it past Safonov.
That ensured PSG would earn the sixth win from their seven matches across all competitions this term and inflict Rennes’ fourth consecutive away league defeat - a run Les Rouges et Noir last endured in February 2023.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain)
