Roazhon Park returned to the orgies of goals that had so often brought them joy last year: against an Auxerre team very struggling defensively, the Rouge et Noir won 5-0 this Sunday at Roazhon Park. But the river score cannot hide a Rennes performance which was close to nothing for almost 45 minutes. The public even whistled their players at the start of the second half when the score was still 1-0.
It was Kamaldeen Sulemana who lit the first fuse: on a long clearance from Steve Mandanda, the Ghanaian controls at the left corner of the surface and opens his foot to deceive Costil (1-0, 3rd). The Rennais suffered a terrible blow a few minutes later: on a bad fall, Baptiste Santamaria seems to have seriously injured his ankle, and leaves the field on a stretcher. Sulemana was close to doubling the score in the 15th minute but Joly tackled on his line to prevent the winger from scoring a brace. Behind, Rennes collapsed completely, no longer managed to chain the passes and suffered the Auxerre combinations, without however Mandanda being really worried.
Returning from the locker room, the Rennais are still just as unrecognizable, and at the wrong time in their defensive and offensive runs. But on an Auxerre error, Gouiri comes alone against Costil and scores his first goal in the Rennes jersey (2-0, 60th). A few minutes later, the former Niçois is well launched in depth by Ugochukwu, and serves Terrier who concludes at the far post (3-0, 68th). In the process, Steve Mandanda signed a second decisive pass: he launched Tait deep into the back of the Auxerre defense, the midfielder eliminates Costil and tackles the ball in the icaunais goal (4-0, 78th). Matthis Abline adds his name to the scorers table in the 85th minute. After two unsuccessful attempts by Gouiri and Bourigeaud, the striker scored his first pro goal at Roazhon Park with a fine half-volley (5-0, 85th).
The Rennais go back to 6th place in the championship thanks to their victory, and build up confidence before the reception of Fenerbahçe on Thursday at Roazhon Park.