PSG ease pressure on Luis Enrique with comfortable victory at Rennes
Luis Enrique would have wanted a much better performance from his PSG side after their disappointing loss to Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League, and they got off to a fast start, with Kylian Mbappé looking back to his best as he tormented the Rennes defence. The home side seemed to have weathered the Parisian storm as the half went on, but all of their defensive hard work was undone as they conceded two goals in four minutes.
The first arrived as Ousmane Dembélé picked up the ball around the halfway line, drifted towards goal and picked out Vitinha, who composed himself before rifling the ball into the top corner - a sublime finish just after the half-hour mark from the Portuguese midfielder.
Shortly after, the Parisians doubled their lead when Warren Zaïre-Emery lofted a ball into the box from deep, which Achraf Hakimi nodded home after finding himself unmarked.
Bruno Génésio would have wanted a response from his Rennes players after the break following a disappointing first half and they provided just that.
Pressing high up the pitch forced a turnover in possession, and the ball fell to Ludovic Blas, who drew Milan Skriniar in before clipping the ball into the six-yard box for Amine Gouiri to head home.
Enrique was proactive in wanting to prevent any Rennes comeback by introducing Randal Kolo Muani, and the striker repaid his manager’s faith by scoring with his first touch within a minute of being on the pitch - restoring PSG’s two-goal lead in the process.
Kolo Muani netted again five minutes later but he was denied after Mbappé was adjudged to have been offside before sliding the Frenchman through on goal.
Mbappé clearly wanted to get on the scoresheet himself, but looked to have been trying too hard as the forward skied an effort from inside the box and then was visibly displeased with Hakimi when the full-back chose to go for goal instead of squaring to him when he was seemingly unmarked. In the end, it did not matter for Enrique, who would have been most pleased to come away with victory after enduring an inconsistent start to his reign in the Paris hot seat - this triumph takes his win ratio to just 50 percent. Despite their relative struggles, they are still just two points behind Ligue 1 leaders AS Monaco, whilst Rennes are in eighth, four points off the top four.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
