Dijon - Rennes: A day of reunions

Dijon - Rennes will be the occasion of many reunions. Reunion with the Ligue 1, naturally, reunion with the Stade Rennais for Samuel Souprayen (read previously), but also reunion for Patrice Carteron and Frédéric Antonetti.

Also, Carteron will face, for his first game as a coach in the top flight, an opponent he knows very well. “Rennes is a bit like my heart’s club, Carteron commented in Le Progrès. I spent three very nice years at the club, and it is over there that I discovered Ligue 1”. Born in Saint-Brieuc, the Dijon manager played for Stade Rennes from 1994 to 1997, before being transferred to Lyon and later to Saint- Étienne.

During his spell with “Les Verts”, Carteron had met Frédéric Antonetti. The two men worked together for nearly three years. “I was his captain, and I have loads of respect for him”, the former Rennais underlines.
This esteem is reciprocated by the Corsican manager. “Dijon have a manager I like, since I had him as a player, Antonetti explained to L’Équipe. We have extraordinary memories in comment, in the difficulty as well as in the success. I’m not surprise to see him there. He had the profile to do that job. He is a man who has the sport in his blood, no doubt about that”.

Still a rookie in the managerial world (aged 41, he is the youngest coach in the top flight), Carteron will therefore face his former mentor this Sunday afternoon. An opportunity to show that he can rival with a team which, according to him, is “equipped to target a top of the table position”.