Ligue 1: Spain’s World Cup hero Torres saves PSG’s blushes at Rennes

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Spain’s World Cup winner, Ferran Torres, scored twice to claim a draw for Paris Saint-Germain as they started the defence of their French Ligue 1 title with a 2-2 draw at Rennes.

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Torres came off the bench for his Ligue 1 debut and opened his account for his new club weeks on from scoring the winning goal for La Roja in the World Cup final.

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Rennes led at the break after Sebastian Szymanski and Esteban Lepaul scored at Roazhon Park before Torres’ clinical interventions thanks to assists from fellow World Cup winner Fabian Ruiz.

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“The game was difficult, we knew it would be,” Torres told Ligue 1+.

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“I just put my hand up, then with Fabian’s quality, you just have to run, and he puts the ball in the right place,” he added.

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Luis Enrique named two of his big summer signings in 26-year-old Torres and France winger Maghnes Akliouche on the bench for a game moved from the French capital due to the poor state of the Parc des Princes pitch.

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Ex-Rennes attackers Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue were joined in the Champions League winners’ forward line by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia a week on from losing 1-0 in the French Champions’ Trophy to Lens.

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Rennes boss Franck Haise gave a league debut to Adrien Thomasson, who joined the Bretons from the coach’s former club Lens over the summer.

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Well-travelled Thomasson set up the opener by feeding Szymanski, who fired home with a low effort from outside the box after 21 minutes after a pinpoint header from Lepaul in the build-up.

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Rennes doubled their lead seven minutes before the break despite PSG showing plenty of intent and even having a Doué effort chalked off for offside.

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Haise’s side’s second came on the counter-attack with a break from winger Moussa Al Tamari and a delicate back-heel from the Egypt wideman helping to set up Lepaul.

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PSG were wasteful in attack, failing to hit the target with efforts from Dembele and Kvaratskhelia forcing their Spanish boss to bring Torres on for the second half.

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With half an hour left, Akliouche and Ruiz were also brought to the fray, and 10 minutes later PSG cut the deficit as Torres made the most of a pass from his compatriot to nutmeg Rennes goalkeeper Brice Samba.

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Torres and Ruiz combined again with eight minutes to go as the midfielder crossed for the forward to head past Samba.

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PSG were on top after Torres’ contributions, but they were unable to find a third.

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– Giroud rolls back the years –

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Earlier, Olivier Giroud scored the opening goal as Lille gave Davide Ancelotti a winning start as coach with a 2-0 victory at Angers.

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Former France striker Giroud, who turns 40 next month, broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with an excellent low drive from long range after collecting Nabil Bentaleb’s pass.

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Tiago Santos volleyed in a loose ball to double the advantage just after the half-hour mark at the end of an excellent Lille move.

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Davide Ancelotti, son of coaching great Carlo Ancelotti, took over at Lille in June following the departure of Bruno Genesio, who is now at Marseille.

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Lille finished third in the French top flight last season to qualify for the Champions League league phase.

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“It wasn’t perfect, but we wanted to start strongly today,” Giroud told Ligue 1+.

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“We could have killed the game off earlier,” he added.

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Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has been strongly linked with a move to Manchester City and, despite not being involved in the matchday squad, the 18-year-old Moroccan said his potential goodbyes to travelling fans after the game.

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“We don’t know what will happen,” Giroud said.

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“If it happens, then we will want to celebrate the win for him,” the ex-Arsenal striker added.

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Ex-England defender Eric Dier scored the winner as Monaco edged new boys Le Havre 1-0 in Normandy.

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AFP

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