Krasnodar and Rennes battle for Champions League pride

    FK Krasnodar vs Stade Rennais - 02/12/2020

    Krasnodar and Rennes battle for Champions League pride
    01/12/20 3475

    Krasnodar welcome Rennes to Russia on Wednesday night, with the teams locked on one point at the bottom of Group E.

    Both sides have recorded one draw and three defeats in the Champions League this season, while frontrunners Chelsea and Sevilla are nine points ahead.

    Krasnodar and Rennes will now battle it out to decide who will clinch third place and drop down into the Europa League.

    The two sides drew 1-1 in France on Matchday 1. However, Krasnodar were thrashed 4-0 by Chelsea a week later.

    Since then, back-to-back defeats to Sevilla have ended the Russian side’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.

    Worse still, Krasnodar have only managed to net four times along the way – conceding 10 goals in the process.

    Krasnodar have also been struggling in domestic competition this term. Indeed, they find themselves tenth in Russian Premier League, with four defeats coming in their previous five league outings.

    Meanwhile, Rennes must have thought they were about to secure their second Champions League point of the season last week.

    Serhou Guirassy scored an 85th-minute equaliser on Matchday 4, but Olivier Giroud netted a stoppage-time winner shortly after.

    Rennes defensive record isn’t too bad. They have only conceded seven Champions League this season, although they have netted just two.

    After clinching third place in Ligue 1 last term, things haven’t exactly gone to plan for Rennes domestically this season.

    They have only managed to win one of their previous five league outings, leaving them seventh in the Ligue 1 table – six points behind leaders PSG.

    Head-to-head: The only previous meeting between these two sides came in October, with the teams playing out a 1-1 draw on Matchday 1.

    Team news: Krasnodar will be without long-term absentees Dmitri Stotskiy and Sergey Petrov on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Matvey Safonov and midfielder Tonny Vilhena are also likely to miss out.

    As for Rennes, Martin Terrier and Nayef Aguerd will be hoping to return after missing the past fortnight due to coronavirus.

    Centre-back Daniele Rugani and forward Serhou Guirassy are expected to be sidelined on Wednesday through injury.

    There was very little to separate the two sides when they met back in October, so this is likely to be another cagey affair.

    Forebet predicts that Rennes will come out on top this time around, with a low-scoring victory expected for the away side.

    Home team
    Away team
    Probability %
    1X2
    Pred
    Correct score
    Avg. goals
    Weather conditions
    Coef.
    Score
    Live
    coef.
    UCL
    323038
    20-1
    0 - 1
    2.46
    2.85
    2.71 3.40 2.85 -1 -1 1
    FT
    1 - 0(0 - 0)
    -
    - - -

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