Embolo saves 10-man Monaco's blushes for a point against Rennes
Rennes started the stronger of the two sides, dominating possession and controlling play. Monaco, meanwhile, struggled to get a foothold in the game, and things only got worse when Fofana was shown a straight red card in the 15th minute for what looked like an accidental stamp on Martin Terrier.
Reacting to going a man down, Philippe Clement hooked captain and star man Wissam Ben-Yedder for the defensively-minded Soungoutou Magassa.
Despite the man advantage, Rennes struggled to make their opponents pay and the home side instead came closest to opening the scoring when they were awarded a penalty around the half-hour mark. However, veteran goalkeeper Steve Mandanda superbly saved Axel Disasi’s spot-kick.
In order to shake things up, Rennes boss Bruno Genesio brought on the highly-rated Arnaud Kalimuendo, who arrived on loan from Paris Saint-Germain during the week.
His impact was almost instant as the Monaco defence failed to clear his cross into the box, which instead fell to Gaetan Laborde. From close-range, the Frenchman made no mistake and slotted home.
Monaco were gifted an equaliser in comical yet disastrous circumstances - at least from Rennes’ point of view. Goalkeeper Dogan Alemdar was far too complacent in possession as the Rouge et Noir attempted to keep possession at the back, allowing Embolo to slide in and knock the ball into the net - a clumsy mistake from the goalkeeper, who came on for the injured Mandanda at half time.
Rennes pushed forward in search of a winner, with Kalimuendo looking particularly dangerous. However, as the visitors committed men forward, Monaco remained a threat on the counter-attack, especially through Gelson Martins.
In the last minute of injury time, Ismail Jakobs had a fantastic chance to snatch a win for the hosts, but Alemdar partly atoned for his previous error with a marvellous stop as both sides had to settle for a point.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Breel Embolo (AS Monaco)