Rennes had always been waiting for this.
Brittany were impatient to finally hear the Champions League anthem in Roazhon Park.
“It's not the music that I'm waiting for, but the game.
Music does not earn points, ”however cooled coach Julien Stéphan at kickoff.
However, he did not shy away from his pleasure when he heard the mythical notes.
Like the privileged people who had the chance to pass the barrier gestures, he shuddered.
Third in the standings when Ligue 1 was stopped in the spring, Stade Rennais played on Tuesday, the first Champions League match in its history, which began 119 years ago.
It is the eleventh French club to play in the most prestigious of competitions.
In a century, the red and black club has lived through so many disappointments, disappointing or completely missed seasons, far from the hopes and swallowed up budgets that it deserved this historic evening.
Despite a starving list of only 3 French cups (1965, 1971 and 2019), the Breton capital is at the table of the giants.
“You have to forget the fact that this is a first in the history of the club to think only of the match, the game, the strategy.
The players deserved to live it, they must take advantage of it, ”warned Julien Stéphan.
A missed opportunity
This evening for history was also a first for the prodigy Eduardo Camavinga who discovered, two weeks before reaching his majority, a Champions League match.
Here or elsewhere, the youngest scorer in Blue since 1914 will play many others.
But there is a start to everything and that was that night.
🔥📽 The first goal in the history of Rennes in the Champions League https://t.co/P2C1iJXe9X
- RMC Sport (@RMCsport) October 20, 2020
Opposite too, it was also a discovery for Krasnodar, currently 7th in the Russian championship.
Before facing Sevilla and then Chelsea, it was certainly a good idea to take points against the least famous formation in Group E. Even if under the Stéphan era, Rennes no longer does things by halves, it is partially missed.
Stade Rennais conceded a draw which at the time of the count could be expensive.
The first goal of Serhou Guirassy (56th) entered forever in the history book of Brittany responded with a cannon shot from the Ecuadorian Cristian Ramirez.
The joy of leading was short-lived but after all, Rennes are still undefeated throughout their history in the Champions League.
And that matters.