Rennes battle back to deny Montpellier

Montpellier Hérault SC  2 – 2  Stade Rennais FC

THE MATCH

Hatem Ben Arfa was brought back into the Rennes starting line-up by coach Sabri Lamouchi and the France international gave the visitors an early lead here. He collected possession after Ambroise Oyongo had blocked a Hamari Traoré cross and fashioned a shooting opportunity from 25 yards, his shot beating Benjamin Lecomte in the home goal with the aid of a big deflection off Pedro Mendes (5′).

That made it a fine start to the game for the visitors, who matched Montpellier’s formation, with three centre-backs and Traoré and Romain del Castillo deployed as wing-backs. They posed a threat on the counter-attack, and Ben Arfa dragged another shot wide midway through the first half before Lecomte did well to save an awkward long-range free-kick by Clément Grenier (25′).

Nevertheless, the hosts did gradually come into the game. They were denied an equaliser in the 17th minute when Damien Le Tallec headed in a Florent Mollet free-kick only for the offside flag to come up. But they got the equaliser in the final minute of the opening period, Delort being left with an easy finish for his sixth of the season after Tomáš Koubek, with the sun in his eyes, had made a meal of dealing with Damien Le Tallec’s speculative strike from distance (45′).

Penalty rescues Rennes

That meant Montpellier had the momentum at the start of the second half, and they duly took the lead in the 49th minute. A lovely flick by Ellyes Skhiri took a deflection off Ramy Bensebaini and turned into a perfect ball for Gaëtan Laborde, who then squared for his strike partner Delort to net from close range for his seventh goal of the season.

Montpellier might have been out of sight had Koubek not beaten away a fine strike by Laborde shortly after, and Rennes were instead gifted a way back into the game when substitute Paul Lasne brought down Ismaïla Sarr in the box. Benjamin Bourigeaud then stepped up to send Lecomte the wrong way from the spot (71′).

Lecomte then did well to save a Grenier free-kick and a James Léa-Siliki strike from long range in the closing stages, but Rennes will surely be the happier side with the point in the circumstances. That is just two wins in 12 games in all competitions for them now, though, and they have a huge game against FK Jablonec in the Europa League in midweek. After missing the chance to end the weekend in second place, Montpellier now travel to AS Monaco next.

THE PLAYER: Hatem Ben Arfa

Ben Arfa was restored to the Rennes team by Lamouchi and quickly made an impression by giving the visitors an early lead. However, his strike would not have found the net without a big deflection, and the former Paris Saint-Germain player once again looked some way off the pace here before making way for Adrien Hunou midway through the second half. Will Lamouchi succeed in getting the best out of the 15-times capped France international?

THE STAT: 13

Delort’s brace means the on-loan Toulouse FC forward now has seven goals for the campaign, and his partnership with Laborde has delivered 13 of Montpellier’s 22 Ligue 1 Conforama goals altogether.

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