French League: Calvin Verdonk Starter but Lille Conquered in the Nest, Lost 0-2 to Rennes

Calvin Verdonk (left), defender of the Lille team in the French Ligue 1 and the Indonesian national team. (AFP/Sameer Al-Doumy)

JAKARTA - Lille must start 2026 with a negative result after losing 0-2 to Rennes in the 17th week of the 2025/26 French League at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Sunday morning WIB.

Rennes' two goals were scored by Przemyslaw Frankowski and Quentin Merlin.

Indonesian national team defender Calvin Verdonk returned to Ligue 1 after being absent for a month due to injury. Verdonk played for 74 minutes before being replaced by Tiago Santos.

This defeat keeps Lille in fourth place in the Ligue 1 standings with 32 points, failing to displace Marseille.

Meanwhile, Rennes climbed to sixth place with a two-point gap from Lille, as reported by the official Ligue 1 website.

The match was difficult for the hosts from the start. Lille had to play with 10 players from the 14th minute after Alexsandro was given a red card.

Despite being outnumbered, Lille still tried to fight.

Verdonk had an important sweep with a header to repel Quentin Merlin's free kick in the 17th minute, although it ended in a corner for Rennes.

He also tried his luck with a long-range shot about 30 meters in the early second half, but the ball did not find the target.

Rennes was only able to take advantage of the numerical superiority in the second half. The opening goal came in the 49th minute through Przemyslaw Frankowski.

Seven minutes later, Quentin Merlin doubled the visitors' lead and secured a 2-0 victory.

Starting XI

Lille: Ozer; Meunier, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Verdonk; Andre, Bentaleb; Broholm, Haraldsson, Fernandez-Pardo; Giroud

Rennes: Samba; Frankowski, Seidu, Jacquet, Brassier, Merlin; Rongier, Camara, Al-Tamari; Meite, Embolo