Despite playing away from home, Marseille quickly set the tone of the contest and established themselves in Reims’ half, with Mason Greenwood emerging as Les Olympiens’ most dangerous player.
The Englishman came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock twice in the opening 20 minutes, but his best chance came just before the midway point of the half; his right-footed effort from a tight angle went slightly wide off Yehvann Diouf’s right post.
Yet, despite Marseille’s dominance, Reims broke the deadlock via Keito Nakamura in the 29th minute, when the Japanese international set himself up inside the box and unleashed an unstoppable effort past Geronimo Rulli, who couldn’t stop the thunderous strike.
Marseille didn’t stop pushing the lines forward despite going a goal down. Unfortunately for the away side, despite a header from Adrien Rabiot and a late penalty shout in stoppage time, they failed to generate a lot of danger near Diouf’s goal, allowing Reims to head into the break with a surprising lead.
Marseille pushed even further up the pitch to start the second half but that turned out to be a recipe for disaster after Reims doubled their lead with the first chance they had on the counter. Nakamura was at centre stage once again, setting up Mamadou Diakhon with a perfect through ball that allowed the 19-year-old to slot the ball past Rulli with ease.
Marseille felt the impact of the second goal and looked stunned after going 2-0 down, and Reims took advantage of that to bolster their lead even further with yet another counter, this time via Valentin Atangana Edoa.
Marseille pulled one back through Valentin Rongier late in the contest, but it wasn’t enough to even sniff a comeback.
There’s no doubt that Reims needed a positive result to gain some much-needed breathing room in the relegation race, and this 3-1 victory should boost their survival chances ahead of the final stretch of the season while snapping their 15-game winless skid in emphatic fashion.
Meanwhile, Marseille wasted a huge chance to reduce the gap with PSG at the top of the standings, giving the Parisians the chance seal the title later in the day if other results went their way.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Keito Nakamura (Reims)