The China Mail - Strasbourg close in on Champions League with Ligue 1 win at Reims

A top-four finish for Liam Rosenior's young Strasbourg side would secure them Champions League football for the first time since 1980.

Ismael Doucoure's early strike was enough to earn them a vital victory at Reims on Sunday and bring Strasbourg up to 49 points -- level with third-placed Marseille.

But Marseille can open the gap in the race to Europe's top club competition back to three points later when they host mid-table Toulouse.

A top-three finish will ensure direct qualification for the tournament, while the side in fourth will play a qualifying round to reach the league phase.

Two points separate Strasbourg and seventh-placed Lille, with French giants Lyon and Nice in between.

Doucoure was left all on his own inside the six-yard box to stroke home from Sebastian Nanasi's corner in the fourth minute.

Reims thought they were level on 20 minutes, but Junya Ito's strike was ruled out for a handball by the Japanese forward.

Prior to touching Ito's hand, the ball was handled by Strasbourg's Mamadou Sarr, however after a VAR review no penalty was awarded by referee Clement Turpin.

Both sides then finished down to 10 men as Mory Gbane and Diego Moreira were dismissed for their part in a scuffle seven minutes into injury time.

The cleansheet extended Strasbourg goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic's impressive record of having conceded only eight league goals since early December.

Defeat for Reims meant Samba Diawara's side slipped into 16th place -- the relegation play-off spot.

Elsewhere, Le Havre escaped the relegation play-off place at the expense of Reims with a 2-0 win away to bottom-of-the-table Montpellier.

Yassine Kechta opened the scoring on three minutes, before Abdoulaye Toure made sure of the three points half-an-hour later.

Saint-Etienne remain mired in the direct relegation zone following a 1-0 loss to Lens.

Rennes lost 1-0 at home to Auxerre following an 89th-minute winner by Jubal.

Later on Sunday, Marseille can move into second ahead of Monaco, though Roberto De Zerbi's side can no longer dream of catching leaders Paris Saint-Germain who wrapped up the Ligue 1 title on Saturday.

L.Johnson--ThChM