Ruthless Parisians return to winning ways at Rennes

Just a few days after the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie, Paris Saint-Germain returned to Ligue 1 action on Matchday 25 at Stade Rennais FC. It is familiar ground to the Parisians, as they were here just a fortnight ago in their 0-7 win over Stade Briochin in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France. Looking for another 3 points, Luis Enrique went for a defence consisting of Lucas Beraldo and Willian Pacho, with Matvey Safonov in goal. Lucas Hernandez started at left-back, while Warren Zaïre-Emery took his place on the right, wearing the captain's armband. João Neves, Senny Mayulu and Désiré Doué made up a youthful Parisian midfield, while Bradley Barcola and Lee Kang-In joined Gonçalo Ramos up front.

Right from the start, the Rouge et Noir made their intentions clear with a swift attack on the Parisian goal. But they were soon pushed back by the Parisians, who as usual were looking to impose their game on the Roazhon Park turf. With João Neves dictating things as a pivot, Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué were very enterprising in the early stages in leading the Parisian attacks. The Rouge et Bleu were fully committed, depriving their opponents of the ball and forcing the Bretons to retreat into their own half. The only thing left to do was to capitalise on this excellent start, and to do so, Paris could rely on the Désiré Doué/Bradley Barcola partnership.

Following a quickly taken free-kick, the former stared down his opposite number before sending the ball in behind to his team-mate, who raced into the box and slipped the ball between the legs of a helpless Brice Samba (0-1, 27'). The Parisians' game plan was working perfectly against a struggling Rennes side, who finally hit back through Ludovic Blas, whose left-footed shot flew wide after a solo run (30'). As the half drew to a close, the game began to heat up, and Lee Kang-In brought the best out of Brice Samba with a curling left-foot shot that Gonçalo Ramos was unable to make the most of from the rebound (38'). Once again, the Rouge et Noir responded immediately, with Kader Mohamed Meïté's header hitting Matvey Safonov's crossbar (41').

The second half promised much of the same, and it was the Parisians who came out firing, when Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola again found each other before perfectly feeding Gonçalo Ramos at the penalty spot, who made no mistake in slotting home (0-2, 50'). But once again, Rennes responded immediately and Lilian Brassier took advantage of Jérémy Jacquet's flick-on to head home from close range (1-2, 53'). It was enough to bring the Roazhon Park crowd back into the game, with the crowd rallying behind their team. To stem the attacks of a reinvigorated Brittany side, the Parisians had to get through a spell of pressure just after the goal. Luis Enrique's cool-headed side did that, and more.

As the minutes ticked by, the capital club took control of the game, and they were once again dictating the pace in the final quarter of an hour. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who had just come on, played a superb ball to Achraf Hakimi, who set up Ousmane Dembélé to finish (1-3, 90'+1). Once again this season, Paris's substitutes made an impact, and the capital club's No10 did not hold back against his former club, getting a second in the dying moments to seal victory for the Rouge et Bleu (1-4, 90'+4).

In a match that they controlled relatively well, Paris Saint-Germain won comfortably in the Breton capital and prepared in the best possible way for their next fixture: the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, with a trip to England for a hugge second leg against the Reds. This decisive European encounter will be played at Anfield on Tuesday 11 March, with kick-off scheduled for 9pm. Allez Paris!