Julien Stéphan frustrated after PSG-Rennes: “These are penalties for big teams, or in certain stadiums”

And that's all. By leading until the 95th minute of play, the Rennais touched victory at the Parc des Princes on Sunday, during the 23rd day of Ligue 1. They had to settle for a draw against PSG (1-1) , after a penalty converted by Gonçalo Ramos, in the 96th minute. Penalty obtained and very well sold by said Ramos. Paris won its case thanks to the Var, while Bastien Dechepy did not whistle anything at the start. “That's the paradox, after Thursday's riot of energy (3-2 victory against AC Milan in the Europa League, editor's note), if we had been told that we would take a point at the Parc before the match, we might have been OK.... But the performance of the players and the way we took this penalty obviously frustrates us. This result frustrates us,” Julien Stéphan initially indicated. And added: “These are “big team” penalties that, or in certain stadiums, not everywhere (smile)”.

Clearly, the Rennes coach believes that the referees were impressed by the status of PSG. And it is true that Ramos seems to fall before coming into contact with Steve Mandanda on this final action with such serious consequences. The Rennais were close to a seventh consecutive victory in L1. “It's a shame... What the players did, what they achieved, the collective discipline throughout the match... It would have deserved a victory. The decision (to award this penalty) decided otherwise. But I really want to congratulate the players, tell them how proud they can be of their performance and their week. In two and a half days, beat Milan and draw in Paris, in these conditions, hats off to them, to the group, for the efforts. This should encourage them to continue on this path to maintain our excellent dynamic of performance and results. Frustration? No, lucidity and calm, a lot of calm,” assures Guy Stéphan’s son.

Julien Stéphan also explained that he rotated, with several replacement executives on Sunday, to “put as much freshness as possible on the field after the riot of energy on Thursday evening. We have been communicating for several weeks about the notion of a group, the importance of each person in the different matches that are coming up. It had to be implemented, it was the right time, the right place for everyone to express themselves. We had absolutely no desire to let go of the match,” he who praised Amine Gouiri’s “very talented goal.” “There is a lot of personality, the athletic qualities and the explosiveness to take the ball and gain the first meters, the technique to successfully dribble and make a very strong final gesture and lucidity and calm too. Hat. It rewards all the team’s efforts.”

For the Var, a global analysis and not only focused on the action of the 96th, coach Stéphan underlines “that at least, they called the referee, who was able to see for himself with the images. Did he make the right decision or not, I don't know... At least we can call the referees every time it's disputed so that they can check, so that they can make the decision . In reality, very often they don't make the final decision. We tell them: “yes you made a good decision, no you didn’t make a good decision.” If on very impactful actions we could give them the opportunity, each time, to check things, that would allow them to judge for themselves and so that we would not have several referees in the same match. To meditate.