Stade Rennais penalised by new time-wasting rule

Stade Rennais paid a direct price for delaying play against Paris Saint-Germain, with a new anti-time-wasting rule awarding PSG a corner when goalkeeper Brice Samba took too long over a goal kick. The decision highlighted Rennes’ difficulty managing their advantage and left the club frustrated after surrendering a potential victory.

Rennes led 2-0 at half-time in the opening Ligue 1 matchday. Sebastian Szymanski opened the scoring before Esteban Lepaul added a second shortly before the interval, but PSG recovered to draw 2-2. The result gives Rennes a point from their first league fixture, although the failure to hold a two-goal lead will count as a missed opportunity rather than a fully satisfactory start.

The ruling followed repeated attempts by the Breton side to slow the match in the second half and drew anger from PSG coach Luis Enrique. Rennes’ staff also questioned the application of the protocol because no five-second countdown was given to Samba before the corner was awarded.

Under the rule, officials can count down five seconds when they believe a player is deliberately delaying a restart. If the ball is still not in play at the end of that period, the opposing team receives a corner when the delay involves a kick from the goalkeeper. The incident provided an early warning for Rennes under the updated law.