The Albany Gazette - Spain's World Cup hero Torres saves PSG's blushes at Rennes

Torres came off the bench for his Ligue 1 debut and opened his account for his new club weeks on from 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 thanks to assists from fellow World Cup winner Fabian Ruiz.

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 winners' 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-travelled Thomasson set up the opener by feeding Szymanski who fired home with a low effort from outside the box after 21 minutes after a pin-point header from Lepaul in the build-up.

Rennes doubled their 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 counter attack with a break from winger Moussa Al Tamari and a delicate back-heel from the Egypt wideman helping to set up Lepaul.

PSG were 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 to the fray and 10 minutes later PSG cut the deficit as 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 were on top after Torres' contributions but they were 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 Nabil Bentaleb's pass.

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 league phase.

"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 matchday squad, the 18-year-old Moroccan said his potential goodbyes to travelling 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 ex-Arsenal striker added.

Ex-England defender Eric Dier scored the winner as Monaco edged new boys Le Havre 1-0 in Normandy.

(C.Young--TAG)