Rennes may not play in Europe too often, but they’ve still built up a pretty formidable home record over the past decade or so.
The Brittany side have lost just one of their last 15 home European matches – stretching all the way back to 2007. The only team to beat them on their own turf in the past 12 years was Dynamo Kiev who netted an 89th minute winner in the Group K clash last season.
But that result was a one off for Julien Stephan’s side last year. They played five Europa League matches at Roazhon Park in total – beating Jablonec, Astana and Arsenal, and drawing with Real Betis.
In years previous to that, teams like Udinese and Atletico Madrid have gone to France and been unable to come away with the three points. Celtic, themselves, couldn’t win there in 2011 but a draw was seen as a good result.
Rennes are pretty formidable at home
That’s likely to be the case again in 2019, too. Neil Lennon would be delighted to come away from France unbeaten. It would set up a pretty positive looking campaign for the Hoops and also give them further hope that they can cope with away European football.
But given Rennes’ record in the competition last season, it looks like a tall order for us to come away unscathed. Most fans will begrudgingly accept defeat so long as the team perform well and compete with the Ligue 1 side.
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