PSG suffer defeat at Rennes

RENNES, France: Champions Paris Saint-Germain slipped up in their second league game of the season losing 2-1 to Rennes on Sunday in a repeat of April’s French Cup final with a 16-year-old playing a starring role.

Edinson Cavani scored after less than 15 minutes of play for the visitors in Brittanny before Mbaye Niang and Romain del Castillo responded for the home side.

PSG were without forward Neymar for a third successive game this term with the world’s most expensive player continuing to be the subject of interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Angolan-born 16-year-old Eduardo Camavinga starred in Rennes midfield, and proved to be key in his team’s winning goal, along with experienced playmaker Clement Grenier.

Rennes boss Julien Stephan said Camavinga, the first player born since January 2002 to feature in Europe’s top five leagues, had continued to improve since making his first team debut in April.

“It’s more than six months he’s been training with the professionals. He’s settled in well with the squad,” he told broadcaster Canal+. “We’ve prepared him with the players, the staff and the whole club so he can evolve in the right conditions.

“He started doing it at the end of last season and he’s confirming all the talent we think he has at the start of this season,” he added.

PSG skipper Thiago Silva admitted his side stepped off the gas after their good start through Cavani’s effort. “We started well but we eased off a bit, I don’t know why, we lost concentration,” he told Canal+.

“It wasn’t the real PSG. Rennes played well, they were solid defensively, they were more careful than us,” he added. Earlier on Sunday Saint-Etienne salvaged a late point at home to promoted Brest with Denis Bouanga’s 83rd minute effort claiming a 1-1 draw.