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Moses Simon could do nothing to help Nantes in their loss to Rennes
Moses Simon played just over 20 minutes but could not help Nantes as they fell at home to Rennes by a single goal in Ligue 1.
Nantes had an early goal ruled out by VAR and had by far the better chances during the 90 minutes, but ultimately lost 1-0 to Rennes thanks to a goal by Jeremy Doku in the first half.
Rennes’ win takes them to 46 points in Ligue 1 and takes them back into the last European spot on the table.
How it happened
Both teams came into the derby hoping to banish the ghosts of European exits. Nantes were hammered by Juventus in the UEFA Europa League, while Rennes’ brave comeback against Shakhtar was truncated by a loss on penalties to the Ukrainians.
The Europa League heartbreaks did not seem to affect either side early on as they started the match in a frenzied fashion, with both sides seeing chances early on, and Steve Mandanda in goal for Rennes had to come to their rescue to deny Jaouen Hadjam, who tried to beat him with a superb effort after 10 minutes.
Soon after, Nantes thought they had taken the lead, but Andy Delort’s goal was ruled out by VAR.
It was Rennes who eventually took the lead when Jeremy Doku received Arnaud Kalimuendo’s pass on the edge of the penalty box and slalomed through three Nantes defenders before coolly slotting past Alban Lafont in goal for Nantes.
Throughout the first half of the game, Nantes created chance after chance but were unable to convert any. They created five big chances in the first half alone, and missed all five, with Delort being the biggest culprit as he missed three clear-cut chances for Les Canaris.
In truth, it was less of Delort and Nantes being wasteful in front of goal, and more of Mandanda coming to Rennes’ rescue time and again as he kept his side ahead going into the break with a number of impressive saves.
In the second half, Rennes defended better and limited Nantes’ chances at goal despite the introduction of Moses Simon after 69 minutes.
Despite Nantes having 60% possession, they were unable to create chances as frequently as they did in the first half, as Rennes dropped deeper to defend their one-goal lead.
In the end, Rennes did just enough to hang on to the lead and went away with all three points.
Rennes move into fifth
Rennes’ slim victory means that they reclaim the fifth spot from Lille and, with that, enter the last spot for a place in European football next season.
They are also only six points away from second place Marseille and could compete for a place in the UEFA Champions League with Marseille, Monaco, and Lens.
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