Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos (C), Pacho, Hernandez, Neves (Ruiz, 60'), Vitinha (Beraldo, 69'), Zaïre-Emery (Akliouche, 60'), Doué, Dembélé (Ferran, 46'), Kvaratskhelia (Godts, 46').
The Parisians kicked off the new Ligue 1 season at Roazhon Park with the capital club quickly taking control of the game, but Rennes looked dangerous too with their pace on the counter-attack. This was proven by Sebastian Szymanski, who opened the scoring with his left foot from the edge of the box, with a little help from the post (1–0, 9'). Paris responded through Vitinha, who played a superb through ball to Achraf Hakimi, who sent in a first-time cross across the face of the Breton goal: Charlie Cresswell came very close to putting the ball past his own goalkeeper in his attempt to intervene (13').
As the minutes ticked by, the Parisian block pushed Rennes back into their final third. Found from a long ball, Désiré Doué chipped Brice Samba with a perfect lob, but his goal was disallowed for offside (21'). The former Rennes player was one of the standout Parisian performers in the first half, alongside Achraf Hakimi, who was a constant threat down the right flank. The Moroccan full-back was successful in setting up Ousmane Dembélé, whose powerful shot flew over the Rennes crossbar (37'). Moments later, SRFC proved ruthlessly clinical, converting their second shot on target through Estéban Lepaul (2–0, 38').
In the second half, Désiré Doué sparked a Parisian comeback, but Brice Samba was able to block his effortand then that of Warren Zaïre-Emery (54'). It took more than that to break down Rennes’ solid defence, and Luis Enrique made a number of substitutions in an attempt to turn the tide. Among them was Ferran Torres, who, on his debut for the Rouge et Bleu, reduced the deficit following a pass from Fabián Ruiz, who had also come off the bench (2–1, 71').
The capital club then embarked on a race against time, spurred on by their new Spanish centre-forward who met a cross from Fabián Ruiz and beat Brice Samba for the second time in the match with a superbly placed header into the far corner (2–2, 82'). It was ultimately the home side who had the final chance of the match, but Paris were able to count on Willian Pacho, who made the clearance off the line to deny Ludovic Blas (86'). At the end of a thrilling second half, Paris Saint-Germain snatched their first point of the season in Brittany.
Coming on at half-time, Ferran breathed new life into the Parisian side and scored his very first goal in the Red and Blue of Paris Saint-Germain.
