Paris Saint-Germain fell 2-0 to Stade Rennais on Sunday at the Parc des Princes to continue adding salt to a disastrous start to 2023.
The loss is PSG’s seventh this year and continues to add frustration regarding what has transpired around the capital club. Nonetheless, manager Christophe Galtier wanted to let the public know that his team is giving 100 percent of their effort.
“I do not agree with [the French media] on the fact that the players did not give their all,” Galtier told reporters after the loss (h/t Culture PSG). “Yes, my players gave their all, both in the legs and athletically in relation to the game. You have the feeling, perhaps rightly, that my players did not give their all. But put yourself in the place of the players who prepared for the match with eight absentees and who go into the locker room with young people from the training center whom they must have seen once or twice in training. We knew we were going to have a tough match. The organizations are very tired and many players will go to their national team.
“But at the start of the match, there were some technical errors with an inexperienced defense and not a lot of automatism. Despite that, we created some good situations in the first half. Is it enough or not? It’s up to you to judge. But Mandanda made saves. And even being down 2-0, he still made a lot of saves against Kylian [Mbappé], Leo [Messi] and Marco Verratti. We can not incriminate my players on the investment. We can understand that, trailing 2-0 against Rennes with few options and many absentees, there is a bit of resignation.”
If there was a good time for an international break, it’s now as the French giants need to hit the refresh button as the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 elimination is still lingering around the squad.
Nonetheless, once club football resumes with PSG’s match against Olympique Lyonnais on April 2, Galtier will need to ensure that this loss to Rennes doesn’t turn into more and lose their hold on Ligue 1.
The capital club needs to get to the end of the 2022-23 season and then reassess the plans for the summer.
