Former Argentina and Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli oversaw his first victory in charge of French Ligue 1 side Rennes as Arnaud Kalimuendo scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of 10-man Saint-Etienne on Saturday.
Kalimuendo, formerly of Paris Saint-Germain, scored two of his goals from the penalty spot, while Ludovic Blas and Amine Gouiri also netted for a Rennes side who had lost their previous three matches.
The Brittany outfit, who appointed the ex-Marseille boss in early November after a poor start to the campaign, move up into mid-table thanks to the victory in Sampaoli’s second match at the helm.
For Saint-Etienne, who were handicapped by the first-half sending-off of Mathieu Cafaro, the heavy loss leaves them three points clear of the bottom three ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches.
Meanwhile Brest bounced back from their 3-0 midweek loss to Barcelona in the Champions League with a 3-1 victory at home to Strasbourg.
League leaders PSG, who are unbeaten domestically despite struggling in the Champions League, host Nantes later.
Monaco, who are six points behind in second, go to third-placed Marseille on Sunday.
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