Lorient wins the Breton derby. Against all expectations, the Merlus beat Rennes on Sunday (1-2) for the 24th day of Ligue 1. The Lorient goals were scored by Mohamed Bamba (59th) and Eli Junior Kroupi (90th). Amine Gouiri (90th 4) reduced the score at the very end of the match. This precious success allows Régis Le Bris’ men to escape the red zone. They are 13th. With this setback, Rennes are missing a great opportunity to get back into the race for the Champions League.
A long first act at the start. The Lorientais had agreed to give possession to Rennes in this derby and suffered from the offensives of the locals. Pushed by a whole Roazhon Park which was just waiting to vibrate, Julien Stéphan’s men lacked accuracy in the last gesture. Faced with a perfectly established Lorient block, the Stade Rennes attackers struggled to find the fault. Benjamin Bourigeaud was not as radiant as usual and was unable to serve his attackers or wingers properly.
Ludovic Blas tried to bring the spark that was missing from this Rennes team but was also well contained by the Merlus block. Not very threatening, Régis Le Bris’ players were still dangerous in a few counter situations, which they were unable to complete successfully. At the break, the two teams returned to the locker room with a score of 0-0.
As soon as the restart, the locals were again pressing as in the first period. With a much higher block, they stifled the Lorientais and sent a series of crosses which all flew in front of the goal without being caught. Désiré Doué, untenable on his left side, kept provoking his defenders in order to create an imbalance in the Merlus block, but his teammates were unable to take advantage. Despite distant attempts, the Rennais once again showed themselves apathetic in attack due to a lack of accuracy in the last transmissions or in their strikes. Lorient then felt that something was playable at Roazhon Park and began to plan much more.
Well launched from deep, Mohamed Bamba tried his luck for the first time against Steve Mandanda before remaining near the penalty spot and taking advantage of a ball released by the former Marseille goalkeeper to open the score for the Merlus (0 -1, 58th). Stunned, the Rennais tried to respond but still could not find a solution despite the changes proposed by Julien Stéphan to try to unbalance the Lorient bloc. But by dint of discovering themselves, the locals exposed themselves to counterattacks. Eli Junior Kroupi scored the break goal in the final moments of added time (0-2, 89th). Despite a reduction in Amine Gouiri’s score in added time (1-2, 904th), Stade Rennais failed to reverse the match and called a halt.