A last-gasp Prince Oniangue winner put the sparkle back into Stade de Reims’ season on Saturday with a 3-2 win at Ligue 1 rivals Olympique de Marseille.
The side from the Champagne region handed last season’s Ligue 1 runners-up a fifth straight defeat in all competitions to put Marseille boss Elie Baup under increasing pressure.
Despite the backing of club president Vincent Labrune, Baup saw his side drop to provisional sixth having also almost bid farewell to the UEFA Champions League after their 2-1 loss to SSC Napoli last week.
“We’re in a very difficult period,” Baup said. “The third goal left a bitter taste. The Champions League is not easy and that has a knock-on effect on the league.”
The hosts were trailing by two goals at halftime.
Reims opened the scoring after 34 minutes when Franco-Togolese midfielder Floyd Ayite’s free-kick deflected by a Saber Khalifa header deceived Steve Mandanda in goal.
Just three minutes later, Reims, who had just won two matches in their previous 10, added a second from from Danish midfielder Mads Albaek.
The visitors almost scored a third two minutes before the break, but Gaeten Courtet missed the target.
Marseille were jeered by their own fans, but Florian Thauvin lifted their spirits when he got one back after 56 minutes.
Substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac then set the Stade Velodrome alight when on 86 minutes he equalized shortly after coming on the pitch, but Marseille paid the price for leaving Congolese midfielder Oniangue unmarked and he scored past Mandanda as Baup’s side lost in stoppage-time for the third time this season.
Reims moved up to 10th just two points behind Marseille.
“We came here to fix the errors of our last two away matches,” Reims coach Hubert Fournier said, adding that he had analyzed Marseille play Napoli to see how best to take them on. “They have players on the pitch who are worth 30 million euros [US$41 million], our overall budget, but they reacted well in the second half.”
Meanwhile, En Avant de Guingamp overtook Marseille on goal-difference to move fifth after leaving it late before goals from Claudio Beauvue and Mustapha Diallo in the final six minutes gave them a 2-1 win against visiting AC Ajaccio.
The Corsicans had opened the scoring four minutes before the break through Benjamin Andre.
Midtable Stade Rennais went on a goal spree at Toulouse, getting five past goalkeeper Ali Ahamada in a 5-0 victory in Brittany.
Sebastien Squillaci scored a first-half goal to give SC Bastia a 1-0 win over OGC Nice, while Lorient won 2-1 against fellow strugglers Sochaux-Montbeliard and bottom-of-the-table Valenciennes fell 1-0 at home to Evian Thonon Gaillard.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
RSS