Paris Saint Germain suffered their first defeat of the season; the Parisiens went down 2-0 against Rennes despite deploying their star attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar Jr. The PSG attackers had a forgettable night in front of goal, as they failed to register a single shot on target.
Gaetan Laborde had an early sight of the PSG goal, but the Rennes attacker’s acrobatic attempt landed safely in the hands of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. At the other end, Neymar stole the ball ahead of Mbappe before blasting it high and wide of the goal from close range.
Minutes later, the Frenhcman scuffed his lines from a similar position, shooting waywardly, before Messi hit the crossbar with his free-kick.
The Parisien attackers broke through the Rennes defense on several occasions but were unable to convert their attacking intent into tangible results. Rennes, on the contrary, were ruthless.
Laborde gave the home side the lead in the 45th minute, volleying a pin-point cross from Kamaldeen Sulemana past Donnarumma. Seconds after the restart, Laborde found Flavien Tait inside the box and the midfielder, unmarked, slammed the ball past the Paris custodian.
Messi narrowly missed the goal with his free-kick later – that was as close as PSG came to finding the net in the second half. Rennes, meanwhile, had a late penalty decision overturned but held onto their two-goal advantage to beat the league leaders.
Despite suffering their first loss of the season, Mauricio Pochettino’s side remain six points clear of the chasing pack. Behind them in second and third are Lens and Nice, respectively, both of which won their games on the weekend.
Early contenders Marseille, meanwhile, fell to fifth after their second consecutive loss, this time, against struggling champions Lille. Les Dogues, themselves, climbed into the top half of the table after a disastrous start to the campaign.
