Found in aggressiveness and offensive intentions, Stade Rennes launched its European campaign perfectly by dominating Maccabi Haifa 3-0, Thursday at Roazhon Park for its first Europa League group match. “We have to free our minds with the ball to be able to develop the game that we developed in previous years,” hoped before the match captain Benjamin Bourigeaud, frustrated like the rest of his team by four successive draws in the league, and a lack of spontaneity in the Rennes game.
Far from the tension that seemed to grip them during their last meetings, Bruno Genesio’s men perfectly met expectations, by starting their first European match in a homogeneous Group F (Villareal, Maccabi Haifa, Panathinaikos). Thanks to a fighting spirit and renewed offensive nerve, they opened the scoring in less than a minute with a superb goal from Ludovic Blas, before signing an authoritative victory. Dominated in all the duels, Maccabi Haifa hardly posed any danger to the cages of Steve Mandanda, who was rarely called upon.
Even its powerful Haitian center forward Frantzdy Pierrot did not exist, muzzled throughout the meeting by the Rennes defense on the rare attempts of the Israeli team.
A first goal for Yildirim
In less than a minute, Rennais’ aggressive pressing paid off. On an Israeli throw-in headed by Nemanja Matic, Blas scored his second goal in the Red and Black jersey with a magnificent volley more than 20 meters from the cages (1st). In a one-sided start to the match, where Maccabi Haifa struggled to get out of their own half, Rennes then multiplied the opportunities. Arthur Theate, with a heavy strike from 30 meters which crashed into the right post, almost doubled the lead, while Israeli goalkeeper Itamar Nitzan seemed beaten (24th).
It was only a postponement for Rennes: with another volley, after a free kick poorly repelled by the Maccabi defenders, Adrien Truffert skillfully placed the ball in the back of the net before the break (31st). Rennes did not decrease in intensity after returning from the locker room, and continued to display their offensive ambitions. With a powerful header after a corner from Bourigeaud (56th), Turkish international center forward Bertug Yildirim scored his first goal for his first start, a just reward for his self-sacrificing match. Like the Rennes collective.