Sevilla beat Rennes 1-3 on the last day of the group stage of the Champions League, a game without sporting significance since the French team was already fourth in the group and without being able to rejoin the Europa League and the Spanish second with the pass to the eighth guaranteed.
For Julen Lopetegui’s men, it meant breaking a two-game losing streak and waiting for a new European rival with a good taste in their mouths.
The Andalusian team was very effective on this occasion against the rival goal with three goals, one from Jules Koundé and two from Youssef En-Nesyri, and also broke another streak of two games without scoring.
Despite the poor result given to Julen Lopetegui the numerous changes he made last week in the visit to Sánchez Pizjuán from Chelsea, who also thrashed with his second unit with a resounding 0-4, the Gipuzkoan coach returned to put a starting lineup in Rennes with less common players, up to seven novelties in relation to Saturday’s game against Real Madrid (0-1).
Lopetegui already pointed out in the previews of this game that he did not like to talk about rotations and yes about managing the resources of a squad that had very little rest this summer and that since then has competed at the highest level every three or four days and that thus it will follow the remainder of December and also into the new year.
On this occasion, many casualties were due to physical losses, such as those of Jesús Navas, Sergio Escudero, the Argentine Marcos Acuña, Munir El Haddadi and the Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclík, plus that of the sanctioned Joan Jordán.
Rennes coach Julien Stephan, also with several casualties due to injury, this time he could count on former Sevilla player Steven Nzonzi and the young promise Eduardo Camavinga, who did not play in Seville on the second day of this group stage (1- 0) for penalty and injury, respectively.
From both clubs it was said that this match, with nothing at stake in sports, would serve to regain sensations after the last setbacks and even for the economic interest that a victory in the maximum continental tournament gives.
From the start, the one who seemed to have assimilated the speech the best was the French team, who squeezed, took control of the ball and even Senegalese striker M’Baye Niang stood on several occasions in danger against Moroccan goal Yassine Bono.
Sevilla had problems to remove the pressure from the rival and leave with fluidity towards the Rennes area, without Suso Fernández and the Moroccan Oussama Idrissi or by the center Óliver Torres and the Croatian Iván Rakitic appearing in that start.
The Moroccan En-Nesyri, this Tuesday the Sevilla striker, worked hard to receive balls and after twenty minutes he enjoyed a header that was the visitor’s first attempt, but the real clear opportunity was again from Niang, on the edge of the average hour, and Bono’s stop avoided the goal.
Sevilla had more possession as the game progressed, although the chances were for Rennes until the French center-back of the Andalusian team Jules Koundé, converted into this game as a right-back, connected an accurate shot at the exit of a corner that did open the scoreboard and away side.
The 0-1 led to a radical change in the dynamics of the game, because the last quarter of an hour of the first half was completely dominated by Sevilla, now with good traffic and with intentional arrivals to the opponent’s area, to the point that in the extension En-Nesyri put the second with a magnificent header after a great pass from Óliver Torres.
In the second half, Sevilla wanted to maintain the momentum they had in the first and have possession of the ball against an opponent who had no choice but to redouble their efforts to try to get into the game, so the game was open, although with the local formation with more offensive vocation.
Rennes entered the final stretch of the clash with merits to shorten the difference on the scoreboard, in actions of Georginio Rutter, Hamar Traoré or Jeremy Doku but Bono prevented it and, as in the first half, an isolated action against Seville meant the 0-3, work again of En-Nesyri.
However, the prize for persistence came to the Breton team with a penalty from Brazilian Diego Carlos to Camavinga that Rutter transformed in the last minutes of the clash. EFE. (JL).