Ismaïla Sarr scored twice as Stade Rennais FC clinched their place in the UEFA Europa League knockout stages with a 2-0 win over FC Astana on Thursday.
FC Kobenhavn – Girondins de Bordeaux
Match report to follow
Stade Rennais FC 2-0 FC Astana
Julien Stephan’s men knew a win would lift them over their Kazakh opponents and into the top two places in Group K, synonymous with a spot in the Last 32 for the first time in Rennes’ history.
The hosts dominated at Roazhon Park, and Hatem ben Arfa and Jordan Siebatcheu both came close to opening the scoring before the half-time break.
The breakthrough eventually arrived just after the hour mark, much to the relief of a boisterous and expectant crowd.
Hamari Traoré’s ball gave Sarr the chance to race in behind the visiting back four, and Baktiyar Zaynutdinov’s challenge brought the Senegal international down in the box — Sarr showed no mercy from the penalty spot (68′).
Ivan Mayewski very nearly equalised soon after but Abdoulaye Diallo preserved Rennes’ precious lead with a top-drawer save (70′), and when Sarr swivelled to smash a shot high into the net (73′) the hosts had done enough to ensure they would be in Monday’s knockout stage draw at UEFA HQ in Switzerland.
Olympique de Marseille 1-3 Apollon Limassol
A miserable group stage campaign ended with a fifth defeat in six games for Marseille, last season’s runners-up in the competition.
Rudi Garcia’s plans were thrown into turmoil early: defender Boubacar Kamara was sent off for the foul that led to Anton Maglica putting the visitors ahead from the penalty spot just eight minutes in.
Florian Thauvin quickly levelled (11′), but that was as good as it got for the hosts, who fell behind again to a Maglica header (30′) and Marios Stylianou (56′) added a third on a trying night for OM, who saw Lucas Ocampos sent off for a second bookable offence in added time (90+3′).
Be the first to comment