Picture Credit: Twitter
Lionel Messi is quite capable of doing special things on the football pitch. There is a reason why the Argentine is among the most sought-after footballers in the world and boasts of a trophy-laden career including as many as s six Ballon d'Or. However, success does not come without failure, as they say in sport and many times, even Messi has missed the easiest of penalties for which he has been criticised.
However, on Sunday, Messi's kick hit the crossbar and unfortunately, PSG were denied a goal despite a great attempt. The incident happened near the half an hour mark in the first half and the score was 0-0 at this stage when Messi took a freekick and almost put PSG in the lead. His effort was, in fact, the closest his club came to scoring as they did not manage even a single shot on target.
Check out the video of Messi's efforts here:
Meanwhile, the home team Rennes scored two quick goals on either side of half-time with Gaetan Laborde and Flavien Tait finding the back of the net. Their efforts were enough for them to hand PSG their first defeat of the season. It is, in fact, PSG's first defeat in Ligue 1 since April, when they were defeated by last season's champions Lille.
While for a moment it seemed like Kylian Mbappe had pulled a goal back midway through the second half after his earlier attempt went over the bar, it was later ruled as offside by the video assistant referee (VAR).
Other than Messi and Mbappae, Neymar too had his moment in the match and missed a volley while Idrissa Gueye's attempt went wide of the goal post.
The victory is particularly impressive since Rennes had only won twice in Ligue 1 before this fixture but were clearly the better team on display in this game. While they had four shots on target, two of them were converted into goals- a stat to be proud of for Bruno Genesio's side against a top club.
Despite the defeat, PSG are comfortably at the top of the PSG table with 24 points, six clear of Lens and eight ahead of Nice. The win has propelled Rennes to the seventh position with 13 points from 9 matches.