Seville 1-Rennes 0 | Sevilla wins by the minimum a match that should have thrashed

EI Sevilla added their first triumph in the Champions League thanks to a lone goal by De Jong in a match in which they had to thrash. But Lopetegui's men continue to fight with the goal and no matter how many chances they had, more than 20, only once did they manage to beat a timid Rennes.

Since the official line-ups were made public there were surprises. In Sevilla the ownership of Koundé attracted attention not so much, since despite only accumulating a training session with his teammates, Lopetegui had already given clues about it, such as the substitution of Rakitic. The Croatian started his first game from the bench since this second stage began with the Sevilla shirt. In Rennes, meanwhile, Stéphan opted for a very offensive eleven to alleviate the losses of Camavinga and Nzonzi in the center of the field, starting the former Betic Jonas Martin. The possibility of switching to a three-plant system for protection was finally scrapped.

And according to what was seen in the first half, the French should not have dismissed that idea so lightly. Sevilla besieged the Rennes area practically from the opening whistle and the best example was the succession of occasions that occurred between minute 4 and 6. A shot out of Ocampos, another by Navas repelled by Gomis and a last by Munir that ran into the crossbar after a spectacular volley. The bad news continued for the French with Rugani's injury at the quarter hour. The game script continued unchanged, with Sevilla failing one occasion after another to the despair of Lopetegui. A heads-up missed by Ocampos, a shot from Koundé, who also dared to shoot from afar, saved on the line, another save from Gomis to Diego Carlos …

There was no way. The game required patience and that the ghosts of the lack of a goal did not appear in the minds of the Sevilla players, something complicated because the problem is more than recurrent. Rennes, meanwhile, suffered and appeared in attack from time to time with Doku's runs and trying to take advantage of an error by his rival in the exit of the ball. But it was very little. The faces of disbelief were the dominant trend on the way to the changing rooms. Some did not explain how they had not scored yet and others gave thanks for the miracle of ending the first half without conceding a goal. To make matters worse for Sevilla, Navas ended with discomfort.

The second half began by tracing the first. Sevilla kept missing chances while another Rennes player, this time Bourigeaud, had to be replaced due to physical problems. However, it was going to be light and the goal was going to arrive for the locals. It was in the umpteenth inning on the wing of Acuña, that this time he took a good pass so that De Jong, in the race, defined a touch and made the ball impossible for Gomis. Justice was done, late, but it was done.

If getting ahead on the scoreboard took a burden off Lopetegui's men, it was not noticeable in the improvement in aim. On the contrary, since the Ocampos, Munir, Jordán and company continued to miss occasions of all colors. Time was running but the advantage was still minimal. And the saying that says that who forgives began to float in the Sánchez Pizjuán. But Rennes never came to believe that they could get something positive out of Nervión and given the amount of wasted opportunities, Sevilla opted to pull ex officio, let the clock run and the final whistle came without conceding anything behind.