PLAYER RATINGS | Rennes 0-1 Lens: Lens go above Marseille and into second | OneFootball

Fifth-placed Rennes hosted third-ranked Lens at the Roazhon Park in a mouth-watering game between two attack-minded sides in need of a victory to further their European ambitions. Les Rouge et Noir needed to pounce after their shock 2-0 away win against PSG while Les Sang et Or had the opportunity to leapfrog Marseille.

The visitors put the pressure early on with Rennes goalkeeper Steve Mandanda (38) called into action. The former France international showed great reflexes to thwart a header from Facundo Medina (24). Lens centre-back Kevin Danso (25) went close to opening the scoring twice with headers. In fact, Rennes were outplayed and ineffective in possession, so much so that substitutes Lovro Majer (25), Djed Spence (23), Jérémy Doku (21) and Baptiste Santamaria (28) were already warming up before 20 minutes of play.

Lens were logically rewarded at the half-hour mark. Wing-back Florian Sotoca (32) had all the time in the world to curl an inch-perfect cross from the right for Loïs Openda (23) to head into Mandanda’s top corner. Rennes tried to reply instantly, thanks to two former Lens players. Arnaud Kalimuendo (21) found Benjamin Bourigeaud (29) whose half-volley was crucially deflected by Medina before smashing the crossbar. Karl Toko Ekambi (31) ended his nightmare of a first half with a bad miss in front of goal.

In the second half, Rennes enjoyed more possession but they grew increasingly frustrated with the visitors’ tightly-knit defence, with Danso and Medina particularly impressive. Bruno Genesio had seen enough and rung the changes with Majer, Santamaria and Amine Gouiri (23) coming on. Rennes had their first shot on target in the 70th minute with Kalimuendo denied by Brice Samba (29) from a tight angle. The hosts found more time and space in their opponents’ half with Lens sitting deep to hold on to their lead.

Rennes thought they had an 86th-minute equaliser, but Warmed Omari (23) was flagged offside before heading in from a cross. Eventually, Lens came away winners after a hard-fought second half to leapfrog Marseille on goal difference. Meanwhile, Rennes are now under direct threat from Lille in the fight for fifth place.

Rennes player ratings

Steve Mandanda, 6 – Showed great anticipation early on to deny Openda and a strong hand to thwart Medina’s header. Nothing he could have really done for Openda’s opener. Rennes would be nowhere near the European spots without him.

Warmed Omari, 3 – He handled Openda quite well until the 30th minute when he allowed his man to leap unchallenged to open the scoring. The Belgian often had the better of him.

Christopher Wooh, 4

Arthur Theate, 4

Hamari Traoré, 4 – An error-strewn display from the Malian skipper, who returned to the starting line-up for the first time in months. Replaced in the last ten minutes by Tottenham loanee Djed Spence.

Benjamin Bourigeaud, 5

Lesley Ugochukwu, 4

Birger Meling, 4

Désiré Doué, 3

Arnaud Kalimuendo, 3

Karl Toko Ekambi, 2 – The Lyon loanee lost countless balls, including one that led to Lens’ opener, and failed to strike a partnership with his teammates throughout the game. He also fumbled a good equalising opportunity before half-time. Loudly booed when replaced.

Lens player ratings

Brice Samba, 6 – An assured display for France’s newest n°3 goalkeeper, although he didn’t have much to do with Rennes’ strikers being expertly handled by his centre-backs for the better part of the game. Still, he came up big to clear over his crossbar a Bourigeaud free-kick deflected by his wall.

Jonathan Gradit, 6

Kevin Danso, 6

Facundo Medina, 7 – The Argentine defender displayed tremendous quality with the ball at his feet and completely snuffed out the hosts’ attacking players.

Florian Sotoca, 6

Salis Abdul Samed, 5

Seko Fofana, 8 – The Lens box-to-box midfielder was everywhere and shone with his decision-making, accelerating play, pulling the strings from deep and causing all kinds of trouble for Rennes. He was heavily involved in the opener as he found a pocket of space for Sotoca to run into for the assist. Back to his imperious best.

Przemislaw Frankowski, 6 – A lively outlet for Lens when attacking forward and completely at ease defence-wise. One of Ligue 1’s very best wing-backs.

Adrien Thomasson, 5

Loïs Openda, 7 – Goal #15 for the Belgian international striker. One of the league’s revelations was a menace in a box and ran Rennes’ centre-backs to the ground with his tenacity and drive, notably sending Wooh for a hot dog with a delightful body swerve.

Angelo Fulgini, 4

GFFN | Bastien Cheval