Spain's World Cup hero Torres saves PSG's blushes at Rennes

PARIS — Spain's World Cup winner Ferran Torres scored twice to claim a draw for Paris Saint-Germain, as it started the defense of its French Ligue 1 title with a 2-2 draw at Rennes.

Torres came off the bench for his Ligue 1 debut and opened his account for his new club just weeks after scoring the winning goal for La Roja in the World Cup final.

Rennes led at the break after Sebastian Szymanski and Esteban Lepaul scored at Roazhon Park, before Torres' clinical interventions off the back of two assists from fellow World Cup winner Fabian Ruiz.

"The game was difficult, we knew it would be," Torres said.

"I just put my hand up, then, with Fabian's quality, you just have to run and he puts the ball in the right place," he added.

Luis Enrique named two of his big summer signings in 26-year-old Torres and France winger Maghnes Akliouche on the bench for a game moved from the French capital, due to the poor state of the Parc des Princes pitch.

Ex-Rennes attackers Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue were joined in the Champions League winner's forward line by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia a week on from losing 1-0 in the French Champions' Trophy to Lens.

Rennes boss Franck Haise gave a league debut to Adrien Thomasson, who joined the Bretons from the coach's former club Lens over the summer.

Well-traveled Thomasson set up the opener by feeding Szymanski, who fired home with a low effort from outside the box after 21 minutes following a pinpoint header from Lepaul in the build-up.

Rennes doubled its lead seven minutes before the break, despite PSG showing plenty of intent and even having a Doue effort chalked off for offside.

Haise's side's second came on the counterattack, with a break from winger Mousa Al-Tamari and a delicate back-heel from the Jordanian wide man helping to set up Lepaul.

PSG was wasteful in attack, failing to hit the target with efforts from Dembele and Kvaratskhelia, forcing their Spanish boss to bring Torres on for the second half.

With half an hour left, Akliouche and Ruiz were also brought into the fray, and, 10 minutes later, PSG cut the deficit when Torres made the most of a pass from his compatriot to nutmeg Rennes goalkeeper Brice Samba.

Torres and Ruiz combined again with eight minutes to go, as the midfielder crossed for the forward to head past Samba.

PSG was on top after Torres' contributions, but it was unable to find a third.

Giroud rolls back the years

Earlier, Olivier Giroud scored the opening goal as Lille gave Davide Ancelotti a winning start as coach with a 2-0 victory at Angers.

Former France striker Giroud, who turns 40 next month, broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with an excellent low drive from long range after collecting a pass from Nabil Bentaleb.

Tiago Santos volleyed in a loose ball to double the advantage just after the half-hour mark at the end of an excellent Lille move.

Davide Ancelotti, son of coaching great Carlo Ancelotti, took over at Lille in June following the departure of Bruno Genesio who is now at Marseille.

Lille finished third in the French top flight last season to qualify for the Champions League.

"It wasn't perfect, but we wanted to start strongly today," Giroud told Ligue 1+.

"We could have killed the game off earlier," he added.

Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has been strongly linked with a move to Manchester City and, despite not being involved in the match day squad, the 18-year-old Moroccan said his potential goodbyes to traveling fans after the game.

"We don't know what will happen," Giroud said.

"If it happens, then we will want to celebrate the win for him," the former Arsenal striker added.

Former England defender Eric Dier scored the winner as Monaco edged out Le Havre 1-0 in Normandy.

AFP