'A blow to morale' - Marquinhos irritated after PSG slip up against Rennes

A stalemate on Sunday means the reigning Ligue 1 champions’ chances of successfully defending their crown now appear slim.

Paris Saint-Germain’s slip up against Rennes produced “a blow to morale” of the team admits Marquinhos as he rues missed chances for the 1-1 draw.

Neymar handed PSG the lead moments before the referee blew for half-time, with the Brazil international converting a spot-kick awarded for a foul on Laywin Kurzawa. Exactly ten minutes after the hour-mark, Rennes found the equalizer through Serhou Guirassy with a superb header.

The result saw Mauricio Pochettino’s men lose ground in the title race as they fell three points behind leaders Lille, who claimed an emphatic 3-0 win on Friday.

Should Lille collect four points from their remaining two games, PSG’s streak of successive league triumphs will come to an end.

After PSG's 1-1 draw against Rennes, Lille need four points from their final two games to be crowned Ligue 1 champions for the first time since 2010/11. 😲 pic.twitter.com/EtQsXViPwQ
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) May 9, 2021

Marquinhos told Canal+: “Of course it’s a blow to morale. We will believe until the end, but we have to do a lot better at PSG. We know it’s difficult and Lille win every game, but we have to believe we can win the title and win our last matches.

“We had chances and we couldn’t score. Football is like that, it’s details. If you can’t be decisive … We repeat it every time, but it’s the truth. We have chances and we don’t score. They score on a corner.

“It’s football, but we realize that we have to do better when we see the results of the season. We lost games that we shouldn’t. We lost too many points at home and it hurts us in the end.”