OMNISPORT

Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva has warned his team-mates not to let their minds wander on to Real Madrid ahead of the Ligue 1 encounter with Rennes.

Laurent Blanc's unbeaten defending champions travel to Roazhon Park on Friday with a healthy seven-point advantage at the summit, chasing a sixth consecutive domestic win.

This recent run of victories was punctuated by a goalless draw against Madrid in the Champions League at the Parc des Princes last week and the return clash at the Santiago Bernabeu comes around next Tuesday.

Nevertheless, Silva is firmly focused on the task in hand and believes there would be no better preparation for facing the 10-time European champions than collecting three points at Rennes.

"There is a tough match waiting for us in Rennes," the Brazil international told PSG.TV. 

"I think that if we want to have a good match in Madrid, we'll need have a good match on Friday, too.

"It's a kind of preparation. If we play well in Rennes, I'm sure that we'll have an incredible match on Tuesday.

"We'll do our best to come back to Paris with three points. We're going there looking to play our own game."

Rennes are a bogey opponent of sorts for PSG during their current era of dominance in the French top flight, with the tally of two wins over the capital club since 2011-12 more than any other Ligue 1 team.

Philippe Montanier's men won 1-0 at Bastia in the Coupe de la Ligue on Tuesday, their first victory since a 2-0 triumph at Nantes in mid-September that preceded a run of five draws and one a defeat from six league matches.

After watching Abdoulaye Doucoure score a 59th-minute winner, Montanier said: "We are giving our all in this competition. We want to go far in the Coupe de la Ligue, so of course we are pleased to win against a team like Bastia. The team played well."

Rennes will have to be on their mettle again if they are to stop in-form PSG talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The enigmatic Sweden star has scored in each of his past five Ligue 1 matches – his best league run since netting in six consecutive Serie A encounters for AC Milan between November 2011 and January 2012.