Stade Rennais boss Julien Stephan has labelled the win over AC Milan as the biggest in the history of the club, even though they did end up losing on aggregate.
Milan travelled to Brittany with a three-goal advantage in their back pockets after a comprehensive win at San Siro, but playing away against Rennes was always going to be a more difficult proposition and so it proved to be.
Benjamin Bourigeaud found the bottom corner after 10 minutes with a fierce strike that reopened the contest and got the home crowd well into the game, but Luka Jovic’s header levelled things on the night.
Bourigeaud then gave Rennes the lead again by slotting away a penalty early in the second half, though again they didn’t lead for long as Rafael Leao made it 2-2 after a solo run. Bourigeaud would bag another penalty, but Rennes went out 5-3 on aggregate.
Stephan spoke to the media at his post-match press conference at Roazhon Park to try and analyse what was a dramatic game on the night and a resilient performance from his side. MilanNews relayed his comments.
Do you feel more disappointment or pride?
“So much pride. We took a lot of risks, but we had to recover, there were calculated risks. We had a very good team in front of us, with a lot of talent, so congratulations to Milan who deserved to go through in the two matches.”
What are your emotions?
“There were many emotions, but also many frustrations for having conceded goals immediately after scoring them. Playing in this way was the only way to win. But Rennes won against Milan: it is Rennes’ biggest victory in Europe. I saw many happy people. Maybe their second goal was a bit lucky…”
Do you have any regrets?
“No, the first leg was over three minutes into the second half.”
its not a victory LOL
the 3-0 win obviously plays into how this game played out, so to consider these two games as separate and then claim this game as a victory is ridiculous.
We lost that game but we got through. Little Rennes won against giant Milan of cause it feel like a victory even if they didn’t get aggregation win. They did beat us in France.
Two extremely soft penalties that shouldn’t have been awarded. Should have ended 2-1 Milan winning.
Rennes coach is appreciating HIS team effort and our spoiled little girls are intimidated by that lol
What do you expect him to say?
“Oh Milan played amazing and thanks to the ref for 2 penalties. They actually won the game” ???
About penalties, PENALTI will be given only if contact between players happens inside the box or ball catches hand inside the box. So THEY WERE ALREADY INSIDE THE BOX, which shows how ‘great’ our defense is ffs
They were actually the better team on the night. If we didn’t go there with a 3 goal advantage, we probably would have been kicked out.
With the way we’ve been playing, I do not see us beating Liverpool or Leverkusen over two legs especially because we concede too many shots against (Rennes had 35+ over two games). In a two legged tie against a free-scoring team like those two (they also defend much better than we do), I don’t see us outscoring them over both games.