Jérémy Ménez scored a superb individual goal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic added some late gloss as Paris Saint-Germain won 2-0 at Stade Rennais FC on Saturday to re-open a seven-point gap at the top of the table.
Stade Rennais FC 0 - 2 Paris Saint-Germain
Having beaten Girondins de Bordeaux to sneak closer to the leaders on Friday, Olympique de Marseille must have been hoping PSG's troubles of the recent past at the Stade de la Route de Lorient would continue. The league leaders were not particularly impressive, but Ménez's stand-out moment - 11 minutes into the second half - and Ibrahimovic's 26th of the campaign three minutes into added time gave their club a first triumph in 11 visits to Rennes and disappointed Elie Baup's men.
Rennes had won the pair's first encounter this season despite having played a good portion of the game with just nine men, and must have been optimistic of what they could do with the numbers even. Jonathan Pitroipa, like his team, has not been in the best of form in 2013, but the Burkina Faso international's surging run brought the game's first opportunity. Though Pitroipa was halted by Marco Verratti, the ball broke to Sadio Diallo, whose shot provoked an excellent stop from Salvatore Sirigu.
Perhaps with an eye on Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg in Barcelona, PSG were under-stated before the break, though only a last-ditch Chris Mavinga challenge stood between Gregory van der Wiel and a one-on-one with home goalkeeper Benoît Costil. The ex-Sedan custodian did have to act himself just three minutes from the interval when Ménez sent Ibrahimovic clear. Habitually adroit in such situations, the Swede appeared in two minds, and his weak finish was comfortably halted by a grateful Costil.
Costil save
David Beckham emerged from the bench to replace Verratti at the break, but it was not the Englishman's altruism which would provide the breakthrough. So often in Carlo Ancelotti's reign, individual brilliance has dug PSG out of a tight spot, and Ménez produced the required magic 11 minutes after the re-start. Picked out by Clément Chantôme, Ménez weaved his way through the Rennes defence before beating Costil to register a sublime third L1 strike of the season.
Within three minutes, PSG almost doubled their lead. Van der Wiel, who provided attacking threat as well as defensive certainty down the right, crossed for Ibrahimovic, and though L1's leading scorer saw his effort blocked, Kevin Gameiro fired the loose ball goalward only to see Costil produce an excellent save.
With PSG visibly tiring, Julien Féret led the Rennes rally, but the former AS Nancy-Lorraine midfielder saw a free-kick punched away by Sirigu before a drive fizzed narrowly wide of the Italian's left-hand post to leave Rennes with just a single win in their last ten L1 outings, a stat which will darken Frédéric Antonetti's mood more than Ibrahimovic's strike in the dying seconds.
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