Having won twice at La Piverdière in the previous two editions against Auxerre, the Rouge et Noir Under-21s, away in Burgundy, lost 2–0 on the opening day of the Under-21 Challenge.
Sébastien Tambouret’s reaction
« It was a highly intense match, a hard-fought encounter against a strong Auxerre side. We got off to a good start and were evenly matched. We had chances to open the scoring, and chances to equalise too. Today, we lacked aggression in both penalty areas. We didn’t take any risks, and when you don’t take risks, you get punished. The Challenge Espoirs is top-flight football: every detail counts. It’s a new experience for many of the players in my squad who had previously attended previous editions as supporters. We’ll need to raise our game for the next matches and, above all, switch gears quickly, as we have an important match to play on Sunday at home against St-Brieuc Ginglin.»
Day 1 of the Espoirs Challenge
AJ Auxerre / Stade Rennais F.C. : 2-0
Line up : Noé Le Page - Issa Habri, Junior Aké, Ruben Lomet, Isiaka Soukouna, Chibuike Ugochukwu, Florian Truffert, Alexis Bernard, Kelvin Dongopandji, Mervin Gbeme, Mouhammad Valmy
Unused players : Yohann Bopaka, Mohamed Chebbi, Antoine Vauléon, Joseph Peter, Melvin Jambry, Noah Loufoundou, Boukary Coulibaly, Ayanda Sishuba, Dee-Shawn Jacinthe
Next match : Stade Rennais F.C. v Valenciennes FC, Wednesday 7 October at 2.30 pm
