The Submarine host the French side on Thursday at 9pm CEST at La Ceramica
Stade Rennais are another of Villarreal’s opponents in the UEFA Europa League group stage. The team from the city of Rennes, Brittany, booked their place in the competition after finishing fourth in the 2022/23 Ligue 1 season.
Les Rouges et Noirs (the red-and-whites) or Les Rennais, as the French club is nicknamed, was founded on 10th March 1901 by a group of students, although it did not gain professional club status until 1932. Since then, Stade Rennais have spent more than 50 seasons in the top flight of French football, have played in the UEFA Champions League once and the Europa League four times, with the Round of 16 in the 2018/19 season being their best record in that competition.
Rhoazon Park, with a capacity of 29,778, is the home stadium for French head coach Bruno Génésio’s side. The historic side has three French Cups and a Super Cup to its name, with world-class players such as Eduardo Camavinga, Jérémy Doku, Petr Čech, Raphinha, Ousmane Dembélé and Gourcuff having played for the club, and others such as Nemanja Matić, Terrier and Mandanda being part of the current squad.
An impressive start of the season for the French side
Villarreal CF will face one of the most in-form teams in France. Stade Rennais, after seven games in domestic competition, are in sixth place in the table with 11 points, just three behind Ligue 1 leaders Monaco.
In Europe, they beat Maccabi Haifa 3-0 to take three points that put them top of Group F. Villarreal have a golden opportunity to bounce back from their opening day defeat by beating the French side.
These are the kick-off times for the matches between Villarreal and Stade Rennais in the UEFA Europa League group stage:
- Villarreal vs Stade Rennais (MD2), Thursday 5th October, 9pm CEST, Estadio de la Cerámica.
- Stade Rennais vs Villarreal (MD6), Thursday 14th December, 6:45pm CEST, Rhoazon Park.
