Rennes found their response beneath the lights, turning a difficult afternoon in Lyon into a four-goal statement against Auxerre. The 4-1 victory lifted Franck Haise’s side into Ligue 1’s top three, just one point behind leaders Monaco after Lyon and Paris FC both lost.
The Breton club had been swept aside 4-0 by Lyon before the international break, but returned with far sharper intentions. Estéban Lepaul, fresh from his first involvement with France, gave Rennes the lead in the 15th minute. Meeting a long pass from Cresswell, the forward produced a crisp volley to continue a remarkable early-scoring habit: it was Rennes’ sixth goal scored inside the opening 30 minutes this season.
Auxerre did not retreat. Mamadou Diop’s enormous clearance from his own area became an assist when Cameron Archer ran onto it on the edge of offside and beat Brice Samba in the 25th minute. Archer has now scored in each of his first four Ligue 1 appearances, becoming only the seventh player in the competition’s history to achieve that sequence.
The visitors, without suspended defender Christ Makosso and injured Rayan Mandangue, had enough presence in the first half to trouble Rennes. They accumulated 1.24 expected goals and competed fiercely in the duels, while Romain Faivre carried much of their creative responsibility. Yet Archer’s goal could not change the direction of the night.
Rennes pull away after the interval
Adrien Thomasson restored Rennes’ advantage eight minutes into the second half, steering in a precise header across goal. Diop had kept Auxerre alive with stops from Djaoui Cissé in the 70th minute and Mahdi Camara late on, while Mahamadou Nagida made a vital intervention to deny Archer a second goal in the 62nd minute.
Then, in added time, substitute Boulaye Dia struck twice to give the scoreline its emphatic shape. Rennes’ attacking depth again made the difference, and the club now stands as Ligue 1’s highest-scoring team.
For Haise, this was the immediate correction demanded after the collapse in Lyon. Auxerre and Will Still’s younger players leave with another defeat, but also with elements of a performance that suggested they were not simply overwhelmed. Rennes, meanwhile, took the opening offered by their rivals and stepped onto the podium.
