Roazhon Park had been waiting for a response after the 4-0 collapse at Lyon before the international break, and Rennes found one with force against Auxerre. Estéban Lepaul produced a superb early opener, while late goals from Boulaye Dia completed a 4-1 win that lifted Rennes onto the Ligue 1 podium after six rounds.
Lepaul had gone six appearances without scoring, a sequence which also included his two starts for France against Belgium during the break: a 1-0 victory on September 28 and a 4-1 win on October 5. But the 26-year-old forward ended that run in the 15th minute, racing beyond Axel Tuanzebe and Arthur Piedfort to meet Charlie Cresswell’s long pass.
Watching the dropping ball and the goalkeeper’s position at once, Lepaul struck from outside the penalty area with the outside of his right foot. It was his 34th Ligue 1 goal and the first he has scored from beyond the box in the division. His familiar “swing” celebration returned with it.
“It was a very difficult finish,” Dia said afterwards. “The part of the foot he used, the timing and the run: everything was beautiful and effective.”
Lepaul did not dwell on either his France debut or the goal afterwards, choosing instead to focus on the work still ahead. Opponents have increasingly learned how to limit him, and the striker believes he must continue to add to his game. Yet the immediate pressure of his recent barren spell, heightened by the emotional rise from a France call-up to wearing the two-star shirt, has now eased.
Reynolds and Dia change the closing stages
Auxerre did not retreat after falling behind and made Rennes work hard before the home side regained control following half-time. Two summer arrivals made the decisive contribution, starting with Bryan Reynolds. The 25-year-old United States international, signed from Westerlo for about €4 million, made only his second start of the campaign after featuring against Sturm Graz in a 0-0 draw on September 16.
The right-back supplied two assists. In the 53rd minute, he delivered for Adrien Thomasson to head in Rennes’ second. Thomasson, formerly of Lens, had also made the difference in the 1-0 win over Marseille on September 11. Reynolds then released Dia for Rennes’ fourth goal in added time.
Coach Franck Haise said the competition on the right would remain open, with Reynolds challenging Przemyslaw Frankowski. “Whenever he has played, he has been good,” Haise said. “You cannot say there is one starter and one substitute.”
Dia had replaced Lepaul in the 77th minute and settled the contest with two goals in two minutes, scoring in the 92nd and 94th minutes. The Senegal international, 29, joined from Lazio at the end of the transfer window on a €2 million loan, with an option to buy believed to be around €8 million.
The former Reims striker had not scored since an Italian Cup match in March, while his previous league goal had come more than a year ago. “The double makes me especially happy because it had been a little while since I last managed one,” Dia said.
His goals also made him the first Rennes attacking player other than Lepaul to score this season. Eliezer Mayenda, Ludovic Blas, Mousa Al-Tamari, Arnaud Nordin and Issa Soumaré will take encouragement from that breakthrough. With 12 goals in six matches, Rennes now share Ligue 1’s most productive attack with Brest.
