The match: 1-1
Stade Rennais came a long way this Saturday, in Brest where Julien Stéphan’s team narrowly escaped a third defeat in a row. It took a cross from Arnaud Kalimuendo and a rebound from Jota‘s chest in the final minutes (86th) to get the Bretons out of a bad situation – and push back, perhaps, the questions surrounding the future of their coach.
Not many people at the Francis-Le Blé stadium would have expected this scenario when Romain Del Castillo took advantage of a penalty to cement Brest’s domination (54th). Before Pierre Lees-Melou’s shot was diverted from the arm by Azor Matusiwa – and severely sanctioned by Mr. Dechepy – Éric Roy’s players had already been the main organizers of the match. They simply lacked a little precision in the last gesture to follow through on their intentions (18th, 20th, 35th, 41st), a little success too when Mahdi Camara stumbled on Steve Mandanda’s crossbar (41st).
Opposite, Rennes, without any idea, showed absolutely nothing. With the exception of an attempt from Amine Gouiri (45th) and an off-center strike from Kalimuendo (72nd), Stéphan’s players were particularly harmless with an expected goals rate of 0.05 until the goal. savior of Jota. In the standings, Rennes remains provisionally 12th, three points ahead of Toulouse, in a play-off position. Brest is two points higher, in 9th place.
The player: Jota, winning entry
On an action initiated by Albert Gronbaek, Jota broke away from the far post to take a cross from Kalimuendo with his chest and save appearances for Stade Rennais. This is to the credit of Julien Stéphan, who had a hollow nose in bringing in the Portuguese (61st) then the Dane (75th).
If Gronbaek had already shown some promise, Jota had so far been content with two appearances, 32 minutes in total. Arriving short of form, the former Celtic player is the flagship recruit of the Breton club. We must hope for Rennes that his goal, his first in the red and black jersey, will finally allow him to launch his season.
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Romain Del Castillo scored his third goal in Ligue 1 2024-2025, all from the penalty spot. No player has scored more from the penalty spot in the 5 major European Championships than the Brest player this season (3 also for Kylian Mbappé and Dusan Vlahovic). (Opta)
