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Nantes are the unlikely Ligue 1 leaders this evening after inflicting a humiliating 3-0 defeat on local rivals Rennes.
Few would have given Serge le Dizet's side a chance in this 'derby de l'Ouest' based on last season's form, with Rennes so strong at home and Nantes coming within a whisker of relegation, but a record crowd at the Stade de la Route de Lorient looked on in shock as the action unfolded.
Laszlo Boloni's men now prop up the table, and there will be real concerns after they found themselves dominated almost from start to finish – even with new signing John Utaka making his debut after missing last weekend's defeat at Lille through injury.
The visitors looked threatening from the word go, and felt they should have had a penalty after ten minutes when Luigi Glombard was brought down in the box. The 20-year-old was unfazed, however, lifting himself up to produce an excellent save from Andreas Isaksson soon after, and, as the pressure mounted, Rennes finally cracked.
Picking up a pass from Nicolas Savinaud on the right corner of the area, midfielder Emerse Faé jinked past Adailton and curled a sweet effort just inside the far post for a deserved opening goal on 14 minutes.
The hosts almost hit back immediately, and perhaps the game would have turned out very differently if Alexander Frei had managed to finish off Olivier Monterrubio's excellent cross as the Nantes defence froze in fear.
The Swiss marksman was uncharacteristically off-colour, though, and the match quietened down as Les Canaris imposed themselves in midfield. Nonetheless, there was still a chance for former Nantes man Monterrubio to level scores just before half-time, and it took a fantastic save from France international Mickaël Landreau to turn his stinging shot out for a corner.
Rennes tried to be more positive after the break and Nigerian forward Utaka began to make his presence felt, first of all with a deflected shot that fell to a surprised Kim Kallstrom. The Swede should have done better with his follow-up, but that was nothing compared to Frei's miss from point-blank range after Utaka had done so well to breeze past Mauro Cetto and send in the perfect cross with an hour gone.
Le Dizet sent on Milos Dimitrijevic to bolster his midfield and it proved to be an inspired move as the momentum shifted back to the visitors. Gilles Yapi-Yapo should have won his side a penalty when blatantly fouled by Adailton, but justice was not long in coming and Dimitrijevic was heavily involved when it did.
With 79 minutes gone, he took a pass from Frédéric da Rocha in the area and picked out Mamadou Diallo with a near-post cross that the Malian headed in only a minute after having joined the action.
That second goal killed off any resistance from the home side, and they began to implode when Cyril Jeunechamp was shown a straight red card for an outrageous elbow on Da Rocha. As their discipline faded, Nantes took full advantage, and in the 87th minutes Habib Bamogo indicated that his loan move from Marseille could be the best thing for him when he rifled in goal number three.
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