Esteban Lepaul Bookends a Rennes Thriller From First Minute to Last

Esteban Lepaul needed just five minutes to put his stamp on the night. Adrien Thomasson's early ball found the forward in space and he finished with the composure of a man who sensed this would be his evening. When Valentin Rongier added a second on 26 minutes, Rennes looked to be cruising at Roazhon Park, their eventual 64% possession and 22 shots suggesting a comfortable afternoon against Le Mans. The hosts had every reason to believe the hard part was already behind them.

Football rarely reads a script that neatly. Louis Mafouta halved the deficit four minutes after Rongier's goal, and when Le Mans won a penalty just before the hour, Mafouta stepped up to convert his second and level the match at 2-2. For a side that would finish with an expected-goals figure of 2.99, remarkably higher than Rennes' 2.66, Le Mans were anything but passengers. They punished the hosts' loose moments with a ruthless efficiency of their own, turning a two-goal deficit into parity inside 24 minutes.

The turning point arrived in the 68th minute, when Djibril Sidibe was shown a straight red to reduce Le Mans to ten men. Rennes, already dominant in territory, now had the extra body to press for a winner. Wave after wave came, 22 shots in total, eight on target, eight corners, as Le Mans dug in and hoped to escape with a hard-earned point. For the best part of half an hour their resistance held, the ten men throwing bodies in front of everything Rennes could muster.

Then, deep into stoppage time, the man who opened the scoring closed it. Amid a chaotic finish that included a cancelled Le Mans penalty appeal, Lepaul completed his brace in the 90th minute, burying the winner to settle a five-goal classic at 3-2. It was a fitting end: the striker who struck first also struck last, dragging his side over the line on a night when their dominance of the ball took an age to translate into the decisive goal. Lepaul's two strikes were the difference between a frustrating draw and three precious points.