In front of a sold-out Roazhon Park, Stade Rennais represented Ligue 1’s last hopes in the Europa League following Nantes’ eliminations to Juventus and Monaco to Bayer Leverkusen. SRFC entered the game with good intentions of closing their gap against Shakhtar Donetsk after a 1-2 first leg defeat. In the 11th minute, Lovro Majer then Adrien Truffert get a double chance but Trubin takes care of the essentials and deflects Rennes’ attempts.
Despite the advantage of possession and situations, the Breton club believed to find itself in an unfortunate position. Before half an hour from a set piece, Lassina Traoré inherits the ball in the six meters and thinks to open the scoring for Shakhtar Donetsk. After watching the video arbitration, the Burkinabe striker finally sees his goal invalidated, after a hand from a teammate.
The arrival of the Rennes bus in a boiling hot atmosphere at Roazhon Park ???? pic.twitter.com/tZHkKDOML7
Bruno Génésio’s team is trying to move forward but the Ukrainian block is compact and leaves very little space for the Rennes attackers. Amine Gouiri, Karl Toko-Ekambi and Arnaud Kalimuendo have been discreet since kick-off. From a distance, Jérémy Doku tried his luck with the right (35th), without success. The current fifth in Ligue 1 goes back to the locker room without being more advanced. We will have to be much sharper in the second half to make a difference and hope to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Bruno Génésio’s speech at half-time seems to have paid off since Stade Rennais will quickly find the fault when they return from the locker room. After a superbly executed counter, hard work from Jérémy Doku and a final serve from Amine Gouiri, Karl Toko-Ekambi opened the scoring with a powerful shot deflected by Trubin (52′) into his own goal.
THE ROAZHON PARK IS EXPLODING Karl Toko-Ekambi DELIVERS the @staderennais
The Bretons still need a goal to qualify but Shakhtar are recovering well after conceding that first goal. Konoplya thus thinks of equalizing but he comes across a Mandanda of the big nights (66th) who pulls out the parade he needs against the Ukrainian right side. New alert a quarter of an hour later with Zubkov found in the area: the 26-year-old saw his cross in force pass in front of the Rennes goal (83rd). If Truffert then Tait pushed until the end of regulation time to offer the second goal to Stade Rennais, Shakhtar held on and took their opponent into extra time.
With this extension, Bruno Génésio will take the opportunity to make many changes. Désiré Doué, Birger Meling and Ibrahim Salah thus entered the game. The latter will stand out during the second half, after a rush from Jérémy Doku, the Moroccan international striker scores in the empty goal (106th ) and once again capsized Roazhon Park.
Despite this second goal and a European atmosphere of the big nights, Stade Rennais will be surprised at the end of the extension. On a Ukrainian cross, Belocian misses and sends the ball into the back of Steve Mandanda’s net (118th). 2-1 as in the first leg, the final decision of this Europa League play-off will be decided on penalties.
