Yet so close to the knockout stages of the Europa League, Rennes was scuttled Thursday against Shakhtar Donetsk, qualified on penalties (2-1 after, 5-4 on pens, first leg: 1-2) in a particular emotion, a year after the start of the war in Ukraine. In front of decomposed supporters at Roazhon Park, the Rennais missed a match within their reach, between awkwardness and bad choice…
At just 18 years old, Jeanuël Belocian was undoubtedly the most unfortunate of the Bretons, scoring against his side in the 119th minute, depriving his team of a qualification that was taking shape… before bursting into tears.
Imperial Gatekeeper Trublin
The emotion was reversed on the Ukrainian side after a penalty shootout controlled by the imperial goalkeeper Anatoliy Trublin, heroic before the attempts of Jérémy Doku, Birger Meling and Lesley Ugochukwu. The goalkeeper had already been decisive for 120 minutes of play, ahead of Amine Gouiri (2nd, 102nd), Djed Spence (7th), Adrien Truffert (11th), Lovro Majer (28th) and Flavien Tait (90th+1)…
Trublin was able to celebrate his exploits with the some 200 Ukrainian refugees from the region invited by Stade Rennes, giving them heartfelt cheer on the eve of the anniversary date of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Rarely worried in the game, but too little sharp in the last gesture, the Rennais still say goodbye to Europe before spring and put off their dreams of a continental epic until later.
Rennes without its executives
Qualified for the fifth consecutive year for a European Cup, Stade Rennes measures the gap which separates it from the most regular European nations: in five seasons, it will never have reached the quarter-finals. Eliminations in the eighth against Leicester (2022, Europa League Conference) and Arsenal (2019, Europa League) had already left a great feeling of frustration…
This failure against Shakhtar seems even more disappointing, as Rennes seemed superior in technical quality on the return match. But the Breton youth, deprived of executives like Hamari Traoré, Martin Terrier and Benjamin Bourigeaud, lacked experience.
Emotion
The two recruits Karl Toko Ekambi and Ibrahim Salah certainly found the fault, on counter-attacks, but the attempts were too often wasted by the players of Bruno Genesio. Finally, the Bretons pay for their clumsiness, and a badly controlled first leg (2-1), last week in Warsaw, host city of Shakhtar players, in long-term exile.
Chased from its land in 2014 and now hosted in Lviv, the Ukrainian club almost achieves a feat with this qualification, he who has been living a heavy daily life for a year and the beginning of the Russian invasion on Ukrainian soil. The meeting, tense on the ground, had all the same taken on a particular emotion in the pre-match.
While the Breton ultras deployed a huge tifo to celebrate theirs, Ukrainian fans stretched out large flags of Ukraine, one of which bore the name of the city of Mariupol, which came under control. Russian. The two captains for their part exchanged large bouquets of flowers, while the usual message of peace displayed by UEFA on giant screens took on a particular resonance. This message, Shakhtar players will therefore continue to see it displayed in stadiums across Europe in the spring. For Rennes, there is already more than Ligue 1.