Marseille went level on points with Rennes as they defeated the Bretons in a tightly contested fixture at Roazhon Park.
The only goal of the match came on 22 minutes with Rémy Cabella scoring from a well placed hit from outside the box. However, Rennes did battle on, and were probably unfortunate not to get a point from the match.
Rennes made a couple of changes going into the match, most notably Pedro Mendes' inclusion at centre-back for Sylvain Armand. Youngster, Ousmane Dembélé, got his second start for Les Rouges et Noires and Jérémie Boga remained up front. Whereas for the visitors, regular starter, Abdelaziz Barrada, was benched and ex-Rennes man Romain Alessandrini started against his old side.
Marseille shade the first half
The game took a while to settle with silly fouls and free kicks being given away. The referee put down an immediate marker to the players when Steven Moreira was booked on 21 seconds. The first bit of excitement came when Dembele was played through on goal without any pressure, only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside. Replays showed that the 18-year-old was more than level with the last defender.
From a Marseille perspective, they didn't do much to trouble Benoit Costil in the early proceedings. Their opening sight of goal was from Alessandrini's long free kick that forced a less than convincing save from the Rennes stopper.
Rennes dominated the possession stats, but like their opponents, the ideal chance wasn't coming along. The hosts were punished for not being creative enough when they went behind on 22 minutes. Rémy Cabella held off his markers to place his shot to the bottom right of the goal. A slight deflection off Mexer done enough to evade Costil who couldn't get a touch on the ball.
The trailling Bretons looked to Dembélé to get themselves back into the game. He was having a positive impact and gave Benjamin Mendy a torrid time down the right flank. Three times in quick succession the young attacker beat his man only to hit the side netting on the first attempt. He then played a cross to Boga who miss-hit on contact and finally made a pass into the penalty area that missed everyone.
More equal second half
The second half was a more open affair with both teams having a credible argument of claiming the better team compliment. The first chance fell to Marseille's Georges-Kévin Nkoudou whose shot from close range was stopped by Costil's legs. Soon after, Nkoudou's attacking partner, Michy Batshuayi, met a crossed free kick only for his header to go narrowly over the bar.
At the other end it was Dembélé again who was pulling all the attacking strings for his team. Bursting down from the right, his drilled cross deflected off a Marseille defender and into the path of substitute, Kamil Grosicki. The Polish international couldn't muster up enough conviction on the following shot which was blocked and then cleared from danger.
The best chance for Rennes came 12 minutes from the end when Benjamin Andre made Steve Mandanda pull off world class heroics to keep his header out. A rare perfect cross into the box from Moreira was met by the on-rushing midfielder, but the French international keeper reacted instantly to stop it going in.
Rennes threw the kitchen sink at it as the match was nearing its end. The high line was picked off a few times by Marseille who just couldn't do enough to get a second decisive goal. Cabella and Batshuayi were both allowed shots from outside the box which didn't trouble Costil all that much. However, the greatest danger was posed by Lucas Ocampos who found himself one-on-one deep inside the box. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, an inch-perfect tackle by Pedro Mendes won back the ball.
The only glimmer of a late leveler came through Juan Quintero who tried to look lively inside the box in the latter stages. In his last attack, he was obstructed whilst trying to dribble by his marker in the box and was brought down. The referee waved play-on, leaving anyone of a Rennes allegiance bemused at the decision.
This weekend, Les Rouges et Noirs take on Les Verts as Rennes and St Etienne lock horns at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, while Marseille host Montpellier at the Stade Vélodrome.