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Rennes' UEFA Cup campaign is in danger of ending before it ever took off as they crashed to their second straight defeat away to Rapid Bucharest.
Laszlo Boloni's side travelled without injured regulars Andreas Isaksson, Kim Kallström, Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé and Youssouf Hadji, and one of the men brought in as a replacement showed his nerves after just five minutes.
Standing in for Swedish regular Isaksson, reserve goalkeeper Simon Pouplin amazingly headed the ball towards his own goal from outside his area – and was thankful that Adailton's goal-line intervention prevented a calamitous start.
The Romanian outfit have been unable to pay their players for the last few months due to a financial crisis, yet they were spurred on a raucous crowd and moved the ball around with purpose as the game wore on.
Rennes dragged themselves back into the encounter towards the end of the first half, with John Utaka firing narrowly off-target after profiting from a defensive error, but the action quickly switched to the other end and, moments after escaping a scare when Pouplin fumbled the ball, disaster struck.
Breaking on the right, the hosts surged forward and took the lead when the unmarked Daniel Niculae volleyed in a cross from the right on 42 minutes.
It was a tough blow for the Brittany club, however they started brightly after the interval and almost equalised through Utaka, who controlled a pass well with his chest and sent a vicious volley just past the post.
Rapid were content to sit back and defend, and it was a strategy that paid off when Mugurel Buga headed in goal number two halfway through the second period. Pouplin tried to keep his effort out but succeeded only in finishing up in the back of the net with the ball.
Boloni sent on Jimmy Briand and switched to 4-2-4, but although the U-21 international headed against the bar in the final minute, Rennes were no more successful in creating an opening and could not stave off a very damaging defeat.
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