Rennes 2-PSG 0 | Hard setback to PSG in Rennes

Having Neymar, Di María, Mbappé and Messi in your starting eleven, incredible as it may seem, is not synonymous with victory. That is the lesson that PSG and especially Pochettino have learned today, who went out to play in Rennes with an eleven full of strikers and stars in which the word defend sounds like another language. From satisfaction against City, the Parisian team went on to disappointment against Rennes, who won 2-0, could score more goals and exposed the shortcomings of a fragile team in defense and with many problems to be solid.

PSG has become a team in which each game is scrutinized. Each Pochettino line-up supposes a millimeter analysis by a club that, currently, has become the epicenter of world football by bringing together top-level stars line by line. This Sunday, against Rennes, the Argentine coach came out again with Donnarumma as the starter in goal and joined his magical trio in attack, in addition to Di María, a multipurpose player that nobody has taken out of the eleven even with the arrival from Messi to Paris. The match against City on Tuesday had unleashed euphoria in the French capital and this Sunday PSG were looking for the ninth consecutive victory in Ligue 1.

Rennes were not the exception of the teams that have complicated PSG by the mere fact of playing with four forwards whose defensive involvement is practically a mirage. Genésio's men dominated the first 30 minutes, especially creating danger with Sulemana, an 18-year-old left winger who was a nightmare for Achraf every time he caught the ball. The Ghanaian made it 1-0 with a shot in the front with the left, but his shot brushed the square.

PSG, aware of the problems that having such an offensive team entails, decided, through a Pochettino adjustment, to join Neymar and Messi between the lines. With the Argentine close to the Brazilian, Rennes took a step back and the sufficiency with which they played during the start was passed to a team at the mercy of rival offensive talent. Mbappé, Neymar, on two very clear occasions, anticipated a goal that was about to be produced by Messi, who with a free kick that he has perfected for so many years in Barcelona, ​​crashed on the crossbar the clearest occasion so far for PSG. Messi, who from minute 30 generated up to three clear scoring chances, was unstoppable for a Rennes who was crying out for rest.

However, in football, goals are not deserved, they are scored. Rennes, who seemed dead with Messi's recital, found a backlash in the last minute of the first half that ended up materializing Laborde. Sulemana's center, accurate to the far post, was the culmination of a great first part of the winger, which was a nightmare for Achraf throughout the first act.

In an unprecedented way, PSG conceded a goal again as soon as the second half began. It was literally in the second 18 and after taking Rennes out of the center. Taït took advantage of a great center from Laborde to score at will and restore even more nerves in a team that only thinks about attacking, but not about defending. From then on, arrivals in the Donnarumma area followed one another and PSG, knocked out by the goal, was unable for a long time to leave their field and, although Mbappé reduced distances in a great counterattack, the VAR was in charge of making the midday even blacker to the Parisian team. A VAR that also annulled Achraf's penalty on Laborde and did not change the score much, as Rennes defeated PSG 2-0 and beat PSG for the first time in Ligue 1.