Moroccan defender Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal earned the best rating in the Stade Rennais defence and provided an assist in the 1-2 defeat to Lille, according to Al Mountakhab.
Some evenings the scoreline says one thing and the individual performance another. Beaten 1-2 at home by Lille, Stade Rennais could still count on an Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal on a big night, judging by how the Moroccan outlet Al Mountakhab read it: the defender received the best rating in the Rennes defence, a 7.5, in a match that was nonetheless lost.
A starter in the back three fielded by Rennes alongside Gonçalo Oliveira and Charlie Cresswell, as confirmed by WhoScored, the Moroccan stood out in the duels and going forward, with an assist for the equaliser in the 37th minute. An response all the more noteworthy for coming after a difficult match for him, Al Mountakhab points out.
An assist with the head
From an inswinging cross, Aït Boudlal directed a header that Rennes striker Boulaye Dia turned into a goal in the 37th minute, bringing his side level. The move summed up the defender’s evening.
That goal was not enough for Rennes, however, who went down 1-2 on their own pitch to Lille. A setback that weighs on the table: according to Al Mountakhab, the Brittany club drop to 5th in Ligue 1.
Eight duels, not a single blemish
The figures put forward by Al Mountakhab show the measure of his game: eight duels won, including two out of two in the air and six out of six on the ground. In other words, not a single duel lost in the statistics recorded by the outlet, in a match in which Rennes conceded two goals.
It is precisely this contrast that catches the eye. Despite the defeat, Aït Boudlal comes away with a rating of 7.5, the highest in the Rennes defence, still according to Al Mountakhab. These data come from that outlet alone and are not presented as official Ligue statistics.
The context makes the performance even more interesting: according to Al Mountakhab, the defender had struggled in the previous match, which gives his response a particular edge.
November, and then?
What comes next now unfolds on two fronts. With Rennes, the task will be to back up this performance in the coming Ligue 1 fixtures, with the club having just dropped to 5th according to Al Mountakhab.
With Morocco, Aït Boudlal is expected to be involved in the national team gathering during the November international window, a presence that remains an assumption at this stage: no official squad list has been published.