Le Gym could have secured a win in the final minutes of a game that could have already lost before that point. Patrick Vieira was aware of this when he spoke at his post-match press conference and was happy with a share of the points.

Patrick, are you satisfied with this result?

It’s a good point picked up away from home. Especially when you look at the first half where we were poor in attack. It was a complicated match against a good Rennes side. We were solid defensively, as we have been for most of the season. Our second half was more controlled and we had 2-3 chances at the end of the match that we could have managed better. But on the whole, I am satisfied with our point today.

No regrets then about those chances at the end of the match?

A little bit, of course, we didn’t make the right choices in the final 10-15 minutes. But Rennes hit the woodwork three times and the arrival of Sarr caused us lots of problems. It’s not to be sniffed at, it’s a good point.

Stade Rennais showed some excellent pressing at the start of the match…

They came to look for us high up the pitch. So there was a lot of space in behind but unfortunately, we weren’t able to exploit it, make the right runs in deep and it was easy for them to defend. It was a very difficult first half for us.

Your solidity will allow you to go higher!

We hope so! It’s true that in attack, we struggle to score and take the right decisions. Defensively, we managed to be solid, we need for that to continue until the end.

You are still in the peloton for Europe..

Yes, the results this week allow us to remain in the running. We will try to take it match by match and to be more resourceful. In the first half, we weren’t quite there, we lacked desire. We will need to correct 2 or 3 things for the next match.

Although you remain in the running, this draw seems to eliminate Rennes from the race for Europe via the league.

There are still a lot of matches to be played. Anything can happen, mathematically anything is possible. For us, the important thing coming here was to build our game and to be dangerous. Unfortunately in the first half, that wasn’t the case and we weren’t good. It was much better after the break and we had chances where we lacked accuracy. Up-front, we weren’t very good but Rennes defended well, especially at two against one, leaving little space for Allan (Saint-Maximin) and Bassem (Srarfi), but we should be doing better. It will be important for us to negotiate the two home games that are next up.

The negatives this afternoon were the two injuries in the first half…

That is the negative from this game, with the injuries to Danilo and Lamine (Diaby-Fadiga). We lose two players and it’s a problem for us for the rest of the season.

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