“The referee offered a point to Nancy”

- M’Vila promoted as captain :
With Mangane injured and Danzé on the substitutes’ bench, Frédéric Antonetti had to choose a new captain for this game. A role given to Yann M’Vila, who debuted in this function, a bit over two years after his first game in the professional team.
In ascending form recently, the international midfielder offered a fantastic display, directing the play in wonderful fashion, as illustrated by his superb deep pass to Pitroipa, which beat Nancy’s first defensive line and led to Rennes’ goal. Barely ever injured, M’Vila has already played 91 professional games with the Stade Rennais.

- Tribute to Jean-Raphaël Soucaret :
Deceased at the end of July, former Stade Rennais president Jean-Raphaël Soucaret finally received a tribute from the Stadium before Sunday’s game. A minute of silence had been respected in the memory of Soucaret, buried in Neuilly-sur-Seine on the 2nd of August.
On a lighter note, the kick-off to this game has been given by tennis-women Virginie Razzano and Alizé Lim, who are currently playing the Tennis Open of Saint-Malo.

- Nancy, the curse continues :
Since the Lorrains have returned to the French top flight in 2005, the Stade Rennais has never been able to beat Nancy at the Stade de la Route de Lorient. This poor run continued this Sunday, despite the very poor display of football shown by the ASNL. In seven games, this is the third time Nancy comes back from Brittany with a 1-1 draw, after 2006-2007 and 2008-2009.
Except for these three games, the Stade Rennais has always failed to score (three defeats 0-2 and one draw 0-0). By beating N’Dy Assembé, Victor Hugo Montaño joined his predecessors John Utaka (2006-2007) and Jimmy Briand (2008-2009).

- Montaño likes to score first :
By scoring against Nancy, Victor Hugo Montaño has become Rennes’ only top goal-scorer this season, with five goals (including three in the Europa League). In Ligue 1, no player has scored more than two goals. There are now four players in this situation: Boukari, Kembo, Mangane and Montaño.
It is also noticeable that the Colombian likes scoring the first goal this seasons. Four times out of five, his goals have unlocked the scoreboard (against Rustavi, in Dijon, against Belgrade and against Nancy). The only exception was the victorious goal scored in Belgrade (2-1).

- Doumbia re-appears :
Having suffered some physical difficulties, but also side-lined by Frédéric Antonetti for a while, Tongo Doumbia returned to the pitch this Sunday, replacing Montaño with twenty minutes left to play. The midfielder hadn’t played since the first game week of Ligue 1, in Dijon.
This comeback wasn’t particularly enjoyed by the public of the Stade de la Route de Lorient, which soon started whistling when the young player had the bad idea to pass the ball backwards…

- Contracture for Mavinga :
Replaced after just half an hour, Chris Mavinga suffers with a contracture to the adductors, according to the news item released by the club soon after the game. The defender, replaced by Romain Danzé, seemed to be walking normally and has probably been replaced as measure of precaution.
Later in the game, two players seemed in pain, causing frights to the Rennes supporters: Pitroipa, who received a knock, took a few minutes to fully recover before finishing the game, while Yann M’Vila held his hamstring, visibly suffering, but it was only cramps.

- Yet another penalty...
This is turning into an habit, nearly a routine. For the sixth time in eleven games since the beginning of the season, Stade Rennes conceded a penalty. After two games without seeing the referee point at the eleven-metre spot, Mr Rainville decided to replay a tune well familiar to the Rennais. This is the second time this year that a hand-ball results in a penalty against Rennes, following this committed by Boye against Belgrade.
Decisive against Caen when he faced M’Baye Niang, Benoît Costil had no chance this time, since André Luiz powerful blast under the bar was pretty much unstoppable.

- ... but this time there is controversy :
In Rennes, the decision taken by Mr Rainville will certainly be bitterly regretted, especially since the decision to award it seems extremely severe. The rules of football mention that a player should “touch the ball with his hand purposely” to be considered at fault and therefore sanctioned. Kana-Biyik, who had his hands behind is back but touched the ball with his shoulder, actually spent a long time arguing with the referee regarding the intentionality of his intervention.
«I saw the replay and in my opinion, there is no penalty, this wasn’t a shot, Antonetti regretted after the game. But this is how it is, it’s a mistake, the referee gave a point to Nancy”. In Nancy, the gift was accepted gratefully. “If it wasn’t for the penalty, I could not see us score tonight, Jean Fernandez admitted. This balances with the point we lost in Lorient when we didn’t deserve to lose. The referee gave a penalty, I haven’t watched the replay but it means there was a penalty. We have sometime conceded goals on set-pieces that didn’t exist”. This Sunday, Nancy hasn’t only scored on a spot-kick that didn’t exist, but also earned “an un-hoped for point”, according to the words of its manager.

- A (negative) record of attendance :
The Stade de la Route de Lorient had rarely been that empty for a Ligue 1 game. With 15,509 spectators, a record has even been established thins Sunday. Since the end of the renovation in summer 2004, the attendance had never been that low for a Ligue 1 game.
To find a lower attendance, it takes a return to January 17, 2004. On that night, Rennes beat Sochaux easily (4-0) in front of 15,225 spectators. A big difference: the Lorient stand was then closed for refurbishment.

- Kana-Biyik under threat :
Booked by Mr Rainville following his handball – or shoulder-ball - in the penalty area, Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik could be suspended on his next yellow card. The French-Cameroonese defender will have to avoid receiving any yellow cards in the net six Ligue 1 games, or he will risk a one match ban. Youssouf Hadji and Julien Féret are in the same situation.
As for Théophile-Catherine, cautioned in the first half, he will be suspended (also read) against Lille. Warned three times since the beginning of the season, the Rennes defender hadn’t received a single yellow card last season.

- Rennes go down in the standings :
By winning, Stade Rennes could have joined Montpellier and Toulouse in second position of the league table behind Lyon. By drawing, the “Rouge et Noir” are finally losing one place and sit in seventh position. After beating Saint- Étienne, the FC Lorient has indeed overtaken the Rennais on the goal difference.
Next Wednesday, during their trip to Sochaux, the Stade Rennais will play with this seventh position at stake, since the team from the Doubs is currently eight, two points behind Rennes. The ninth, Auxerre, is already four points behind the Rennais.

- Udine, Nancy, the spurned opportunities :
In an ideal scenario, the Stade Rennais could easily have brought six points from their two games of the week. Dominating in Udine and against Nancy, the “Rouge et Noir” have finally thrown away two victories which seemed theirs, mainly because of their inability to convert their chances. “We need to be more clinical and efficient”, Frédéric Antonetti admitted in the press conference. “We will have to work on these situations at training, we should also probably give more angle to our balls on the shots. Work with the ball, confidence, that’s the way it is. This result should not discourage us».

- Sources of declarations: ouest-france.fr, lequipe.fr