The pressure increased once more on under-fire Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier as he watched his side fall to a surprise 2-0 home defeat to Rennes at the Parc des Princes. In a drab affair, the host dominated possession, but failed to truly threaten or properly test a solid visiting defence, and goals from Karl Toko Ekambi and Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga halted the champions elect from extending their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 12 points.
Ad The first half started slowly as Paris passed around the field in a leisurely manner, but their rigid 3-5-2 shape stunted any sort of fluidity they had in attacking transitions. TransfersSaudi Arabia preparing huge offer to secure Messi transfer — Paper Round16/03/2023 AT 06:14 With the quality of attacking talent the Parisians had, and the creativity they had in midfield, the hosts resorted to hopeful punts over the top for Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi to chase, and although some resulted in half-chances for their superstar strikers, none really troubled veteran visiting goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.
Messi's first attempt on a quarter of an hour was well blocked by a sliding Warmed Omari, while Arthur Theate went close with a header over the top from a teasing Benjamin Bourigeaud delivery at the other end. Mbappe had the ball in the net on 23 minutes as he raced after Fabian's floated ball over the top, but the flag denied the Frenchman the game's opener.
Toko Ekambi opened the scoring against the run of play as it was Rennes' turn to go direct, and he hared onto Bourigeaud's ball in behind to sweep beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma, with Danilo Pereira asleep. It was two just minutes into the second half, as former Paris youth product Kalimuendo-Muinga bundled home from
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