We have never played Stade Rennais FC (known as Rennes) and so our competitive history begins on Thursday.
This is Arsenal’s 25th European game against opponents from France and we haven’t lost any of the 12 matches on the other side of La Manche, winning eight. Arsenal’s former Czech Republic international goalkeeper Petr Čech played for Rennes from 2002–04, making 78 appearances in total.
Rennes’s history goes back more than 2,000 years, at a time when it was a small Gallic village named Condate. Together with Vannes and Nantes, it was one of the major cities of the ancient Duchy of Brittany. From the early sixteenth century until the French Revolution, Rennes was a parliamentary, administrative and garrison city of the historic province of Brittany of the Kingdom of France.
Rennes old town
In 2015, the city was the tenth largest in France, with a metropolitan area of about 720,000 inhabitants. With more than 66,000 students in 2016, it is also the eighth-largest university campus of France. The inhabitants of Rennes are called Rennais(e)(es) in French. In 2018, L’Express named Rennes as “the most liveable city in France”.
Stade Rennais FC 1904 – love the pipe
Stade Rennais Football Club, commonly referred to as Stade Rennais, SRFC or simply Rennes, is a French association football club based in Rennes. The club was founded in 1901 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. Rennes plays its home matches at the Roazhon Park, located within the city – it has a capacity of 29,778. The team is managed by Julien Stéphan. The team’s president is Olivier Létang and its owner is Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault family. Businessman François-Henri Pinault is married to actress Salma Hayek
Domestic Honours
Ligue 2
Champions (2): 1955–56, 1982–83
Coupe de France
Champions (2): 1964–65, 1970–71
Runners-up (4): 1921–22, 1936–37, 2008–09, 2013–14
Coupe de la Ligue
Runners-up (1): 2012–13
Trophée des champions
Champions (1): 1971
Rennes play in Ligue 1 and are currently in 10th place with a record of W10, D7, L9, GF35, GA 34, they are 34 points behind 1st place PSG.
Les Rouges et Noirs finished second in this season’s Europa League Group K behind Dynamo Kyiv to qualify for the Round of 32. Drawn against Real Betis (currently 8th in La LIga), they could only draw 3-3 in the home tie but ran out 3-1 winners in the away leg in Spain to earn their place against us in the Round of 16.
The League de Football Professionnel (LFP) agreed to postpone the Rennes Ligue 1 game against Nimes Olympique, scheduled for March 2nd, to allow them 8 days to prepare for The Arsenal. Meanwhile we played the spuds on March 2nd and will play Manchester United on March 10th, 3 days after the Rennes away leg.
Even with this cramped schedule I expect Arsenal to be too strong for Rennes.
GunnerN5
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Oh Selma
Please come and play for Arsenal.
Merci, GN5.
Let’s hope we can continue our good record in France.
Love the agricultural language from the English-speaking spectator at the start of this clip.
Beware, P’s Mum might not like it.
A really superior Post, GN5, loved it.
Incidentally, I missed the Radster’s Post yesterday, and that was also top class.
And I think we can all agree, that Chas’s Posts are great chat mover on a regular basis.
We are fortunate to have such a diverse, but classy, bunch of authors — and the other occasional Post contributors are spot on too.
I am not sure who chose to head today’s Post as ‘our away record against Rennes’ — but it is a pretty shabby record, with no wins, and no draws (drawers?).
Never having played them away previously is no excuse!! 😜
Morning All,
II have a fantasy of Selma in a deep lying playmaker role 😀
Thank you GN5 and a huge thank you to Chas for the pics
Top stuff, GN5. I love these small to medium sized French cities with a long history.. and just imagine you could bump into Selma’s finest when turning a corner! Should be a good game tomorrow as long as we totally forget about the weekend game and play our strongest team possible.
Do not be fooled by Rennes…The players all want to leave the club for a bigger club and their best window to display their talent is the Europa League. They have some very tricky players, including one that we are following closely…SARR. There is also Ben Arfa, Niang and their goalie is good in the person of Koubek. while Grenier makes them tick in the middle..They are extremely good on the counter and are OK to play a low line. We need to press them so I think we will miss Lacazette a lot BUT we can play:
Cech – Lichten, Mustafi, Sok, Monreal – AMN, LT, Xhaka, Kola – Mikhy, Auba
Bring in Iwobi later
Rumour has it that Emery will play Suarez today…Let us see
Ajax destroyed Real yesterday with a sensational Tadic, De Jong, De Ligt and Ziyech and a really poor Carvalaj, Nacho, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric and Bale…
Real Madrid having a really poor season after Zidane and C.Ronaldo leave; Coincidence? Not sure and we will never know BUT for sure, the lack of quality transfer activity has affected them and the lack of improvement of Vazquez and Asension this season coupled with the lack of involvement of Isco have impacted the team. I expect Madrid to go strong in the transfer market both for players out and players in.
I think that there is a chance to snap Marcelo, Casemiro, Isco, Asensio and Bale for a reduced price…I d consider Casemiro and Asensio because ultimately, they have quality and are strong physically as well.
As for the players wanted by Real, they ll go for the big stars and they will purchase:
– Starting XI: 2 Forwards/Wingers, 1 LB and 1 RB
– Back up: 1 CB, 1 DM, 1 CM, 1 ST
RC78
Modric at 33 years old – you’re kidding.
Having watched last night, I wouldn’t have any of the ones that played.
As long as they ‘purchase’ Podgytino, I’ll be happy. 🙂
Then again, talking of Ajax there were plenty who caught the eye. The quality of their passing was just phenomenal. I hope they can play as well as that when they face the spuds in the QFs.
Newquay fish hook 🙂
Superb pass.
Auba really should have used his body better to shield the ball from the defender. I suppose the poor first touch didn’t help.
I would certainly sign Casemiro. Fantastic player.
.
What about the food in rennes G5, how could you Forbes the food
Chas and BR – I d also go with Casemiro rather than Modric.
I d love to see a Tottenham – Ajax game. It would be a fun opposition.
Mustafi u kidding right
Yea but not asensio great player but think we probable need pace on the wings IMO
Forget the food
RM v Ajax summed up in one photo
Tonight I hope that we can finish the job against Utd….Apparently we are playing:
Buffon – Kehrer, Silva, Kimpembe, Bernat – Alves, Marquinhos, Verratti – Draxler, Di Maria – Mbappe
Tadic was on fire last night and Ziyech, De Ligt and De Jong confirmed they can play at a high level…
Real will overhaul the squad this summer and don’t be surprised to see Mourinho back on the bench as Solari will probably see the door…Mourinho will then go for the kill:
1. He will get a Top CB to rotate with Ramos and Varane
2. He will get 2 Full-Backs – won’t be surprised to see Azpi on his radat
3. He will get a DM
4. He will get wingers and won’t hesitate to poach players like Mane
so let us see what happens in Madrid because it will make some players available and greatly impact the transfer window
Is cavani still injured
Only recovering now…
Ok
Tadic was superb last night but never showed form like that at S’ton. I wonder why?
Travelling squad
Looking forward to the match tonight. Hoping for more injuries to MU – especially in defence and in particular, to De Gea, who la ways plays brilliantly against us
No Lichsteiner.
Probably just full of confidence yesterday
MU Pretty in Pink
PSG kit is black shirts and shorts. Why can’t Utd play in their home kit?
Pink kit sales are low
Astonishing that the red mancs are 2-1 up.
I am so upset…2 stOOOOOOpid mistakes…
Football is becoming farcical.
What the purpose of VAR for ass holes ref to keep theifing steups
So far in the CL quarter finals you have
Ajax
Spuds
Red mancs and
Porto
What a crazy line up.
Other quarters
Man City or Schalke
Juve or Atletico
Barcelona or Lyon
Bayern or Liverpool
Fred
Completely agree with your 11:53
Morning
VAR is for control freaks (I’m one, but I fight the emotion) 🙂
I saw last ten minutes of Utd PSG. As soon as they announced they were going to VAR and showed the reply on telly, I though that’s that, no pen.
Chas
Fred’s 11.53……..on what day/month?
Chas
Thanks for putting up the Ajax clips. Crikey, what a game. Lucky you
Micky
It was the best match I’d seen for donkeys.
Ajax were amazing.
I hope they can do themselves justice in the Quarters.
Did you see the VAR decision from last night? Games are becoming more about the refs, VAR and rule changes than they are about the two teams.
People are still discussing whether Kane was offside first or Mustafi was a pillock first. It’s crazy. The rules have been messed about with so much, no-one knows what they are anymore.
Ooops only saw your last comment.
LBG
Fred was replying to a Kelsey comment from September 2015
In the Ajax game, they went to VAR for Ajax’s third goal.
The ball had got very close to going out for a throw in the build-up.
They spent 5 minutes trying to decide if the ball had gone out or not using three different camera angles -all of which were inconclusive (none of which were along the line).
It was pathetic.
If it’s used in the Prem next season like it is in the CL, it’s going to be chaos.
Chas
100% agree @6:50.
It’s this idea that you can create a perfect world. Mistakes are the best, and the only way you learn.
Anyhow, it’s MATCHDAY
5:55pm kick offs are great. Match report done by 8.30. Lovely.
Question
On Arsenal dot come, they have the dates for the Europa quarters should we beat Rennes.
Is this accurate as I thought these fixtures were always staggered over two weeks?
I’m entering a phase of my life when I’ll be doing more 3-5 day mini breaks and I’m reckoning we may get an interesting destination in the next round so will want to go
Micky I think they’re all over just one week from now on, even CL.
Because Europa had an extra round (Round of 32) to complete while CL was last 16, they had a chance to stagger the CL games over 4 weeks to get extra TV revenue.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals will be held on 15 March 2019, 13:00 CET.
The first legs will be played on 11 April, and the second legs will be played on 18 April 2019.
Semi-finals
The draw for the semi-finals will be held on 15 March 2019, 13:00 CET (after the quarter-final draw).
The first legs will be played on 2 May, and the second legs will be played on 9 May 2019.
Morning All,
Cracking entertainment last night.
PSG head and shoulders the better team. Terrible refereeing decisions. MU have rediscovered SAF’s luck
Someone on twitter commented on the photo below
“Bloody hell, has Overmars started driving for Uber?”
Marc Overmars and Van Der Saar celebrating with the Ajax fans in the Bernabeu
That pic of Overmars is very re-assuring 😀 😀
New Post
Chaos is right I can see some idiot ref using VAR and saying mustafi fouled Kane before it he was offside
Also if u remember in the WC there was some dumbass calls as well
How long they have been using VAR and mark same mistakes
Think they need to higher technical people and not ref cause they are bias
We call it obeah in Trinidad BR