OM win away… at last | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille's 3-1 victory at Reims was their first in an away Ligue 1 Uber Eats match since early December and lifted Jorge Sampaoli's side to fifth in the table.

THE MATCH:

Under the Argentinian coach, OM are attempting to salvage something from a troubled season and claim fifth place, which would mean European qualification. David Guion's Reims qualified for Europe last season but the coach is going to be leaving the club come the end of the season.

Reims came into the game on a nine-match unbeaten run and they took the lead (38') through Nathanaël Mbuku who powered home a header from a Moreto Cassama corner. Things got worse for OM before they got better as Boubacar Kamara (40') went off with a back injury.

Dimitri Payet (41') equalised after great work from Pol Lirola, who ignored Arkadiusz Milik's near-post run and pulled the ball back for the veteran attacker to finish. Sampaoli's team took the lead before the interval (45+2') and Payet was the provider this time, his low cross turned in by Milik, the Polish international forward.

OM goalkeeper Steve Mandanda dived in on Boulaye DIa (66') and the ball ended up hitting the post. Reims' hopes were more or less ended when Wout Faes (69') was sent off for a second yellow card and Payet made the points safe (76') when he finished off a Valentin Rongier cut-back.

Sampaoli has taken 16 points from his first seven games in charge of OM and the victory puts the pressure on Lens, who host Nîmes on Sunday afternoon.

THE PLAYER: Dimitri Payet

Payet's double moved him onto seven league goals for the season and up to 87 in his 433 match Ligue 1 career. Now 34, Payet was enduring a difficult season until Sampaoli came in but now looks capable of inspiring OM to a European finish.

THE STAT: 10

Olympique de Marseille had gone 10 away matches without a win (5D, 5L) since their 2-0 success at Nîmes on December 4 2020.

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