Rennes welcome Sevilla to the Roazhon Park in Tuesday's Champions League dead rubber, with both sides already seeing their fates sealed in the most recent round of fixtures.

The hosts are resigned to a fourth-placed finish, whereas Sevilla have secured second spot and a place in the last 16 of Europe's premier competition.

Match preview

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A narrow defeat on Krasnodar's turf last week confirmed what the Rennes faithful had been expecting for a while - their team's maiden Champions League venture has ended at the very first hurdle.

Julien Stephan's men have not taken a point from any of their continental fixtures since the opening gameweek, with Rennes suffering two defeats to Chelsea and a loss at Sevilla before Marcus Berg's goal assured Krasnodar of their spot in the Europa League last Wednesday.

Not a single soul was expecting Rennes to usurp Chelsea or Sevilla to one of the top two spots in the group, and with their impending European exit already confirmed, Stephan will be thankful that he can give Ligue 1 his undivided attention amid Rennes' abysmal spell of form.

Les Rouge et Noir have failed to pick up results both domestically and in the Champions League over the past couple of months, with Rennes losing six of their last seven in all competitions and managing a solitary victory since the start of October - a 2-1 triumph over Brest on Halloween.

The hosts go into this game following yet another dismal home defeat in the French top flight as newly-promoted Lens marched to a 2-0 win at the Roazhon Park on Saturday, with Arnaud Kalimuendo drawing first blood before Ignatius Ganago doubled Lens' lead in the second 45.

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Sevilla have enjoyed a solid Champions League campaign overall, with group leaders Chelsea the only side to take points off Julen Lopetegui's side so far.

However, no-one could have foreseen the Olivier Giroud masterclass at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, with the 34-year-old notching up all four of Chelsea's goals as the Blues thumped Sevilla 4-0 on their own turf last week.

Lopetegui's men were rocked by that trouncing by a Giroud-inspired Chelsea, and Sevilla recently saw their winning run in La Liga ended by Real Madrid, who needed a huge slice of luck to scrape a 1-0 win courtesy of Bono's own goal.

Sevilla are already through to the knockout stages and cannot overtake Chelsea ahead of the final matchday in Group E, so Lopetegui will no doubt just be hoping to see his side return to winning ways after two dampening defeats on their own turf.

A 55th-minute Luuk de Jong winner was enough to see Sevilla take all three points with Rennes in their first meeting with the French outfit back in October.

Rennes Champions League form: DLLLL
Rennes form (all competitions): LLLDLL

Sevilla Champions League form: DWWWL
Sevilla form (all competitions): WWWWLL

Team News

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Rennes goalkeeper Alfred Gomis is yet to return from injury and it remains to be seen when the shot-stopper will come back for Rennes, with Romain Salin therefore set for another start in goal.

Centre-back duo Nayef Aguerd and Daniele Rugani remain out with coronavirus and a thigh injury respectively, while Serhou Guirassy is expected to be sidelined for a number of weeks with an ankle sprain.

As far as any potential changes go, Faitout Maouassa could replace Adrien Truffert at left-back, while Eduardo Camavinga and Jeremy Doku will be hopeful of returning to the first XI.

Meanwhile, Sevilla goalkeeper Bono will be looking to put his calamitous mishap against Real behind him as he continues in between the sticks with Tomas Vaclik still injured.

Marcos Acuna is also struggling to shake off a muscular problem, but Lopetegui is set to name several changes either way with nothing on the line here.

Oussama Idrissi, Suso, Youssef En-Nesyri and Oliver Torres could all feature in a new-look XI, while one or both of Sergi Gomez and Karim Rekik may return to the defence.

Rennes possible starting lineup:
Salin; Traore, Nyamsi, Da Silva, Maouassa; Nzonzi, Camavinga, Bourigeaud; Doku, Niang, Gboho

Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Bono; Navas, Kounde, Carlos, Rekik; Gudelj, Torres, Rakitic; Suso, En-Nesyri, Idrissi

We say: Rennes 1-2 Sevilla

Neither of these two teams need to employ a gung-ho attitude for a meaningless victory here, with both managers undoubtedly focused on avoiding any more injuries with crucial league matches coming up. Rennes and Sevilla should name significantly altered starting lineups, but given the respective form of the two sides over the past couple of months, we are backing Sevilla to travel back to Spain with three points in the bag.

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