Stade Rennes inflicted a second straight away-from-home loss upon Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to cue a Ligue 1 title race.
The visitors also dropped the game against Lens but were boosted by the return of Kylian Mbappe alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar. But Christophe Galtier’s side looked far from their previous best as Hamari Traore’s second-half goal was enough to overcome them 1-0.
With Rennes overrunning the midfield, their players created the better of early chances.
The home side sent early warnings to PSG when Arnaud Kalimuendo forced Gianluigi Donnarumma to parry his powerful shot from inside the box in the 28th minute.
The Italian then denied Lovro Majer to keep his team afloat five minutes later as PSG struggled to threaten at the other end, prompting Galtier to replace striker Hugo Ekitike with Mbappe 10 minutes into the second half.
Yet it was Rennes who looked the likeliest to score and were rewarded in the 65th minute when Traore found the back of the PSG net with a low angled shot from Adrien Truffert’s pass.
The visitors went the closest when Juan Bernat had a half-volley tipped over the bar by Steve Mandanda in the 81st minute.
PSG’s vaunted lineup then threw everything at the opposition’s goal but failed to find the equaliser.
The loss leaves the Parisians with 47 points from 19 games just three ahead of the second-placed RC Lens who are on 44 after their 1-0 win against AJ Auxerre on Saturday.
