Marseille beats Rennes 3-0 to reach French Cup quarterfinals

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MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Marseille avoided plunging into crisis by defeating Rennes 3-0 on Tuesday to move into the French Cup quarterfinals.

The southern club had no room for mistake after exiting the Champions League last week with a 3-0 loss at Club Brugge. It was an embarrassing defeat that was followed by a 2-2 draw at Paris FC in Ligue 1 on Saturday after Roberto De Zerbi's players threw away a two-goal lead.

Marseille needed just two minutes to break the deadlock against Rennes when Amine Gouiri scored from close range against his former club, after excellent work from Timothy Weah to recover the ball in the box.

Gouiri then turned provider to set up Mason Greenwood in the 46th minute, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sealing the win on the break with seven minutes left.

Marseille recruit Ethan Nwaneri was lucky to escape a red card after an awful tackle near the hour-mark on Glen Kamara, who was forced off.

Reims also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 defeat of Le Mans.

Marseille’s 3-0 loss at Club Brugge on Wednesday, coupled with Benfica’s remarkable injury-time goal against Real Madrid, sent De Zerbi’s side into 25th place in the Champions League table and out of the competition.

Marseille, which won the Champions League in 1993, is third in the French league, nine points behind leader Paris-Saint-Germain. The bitter rivals face off this weekend in Paris in “Le Classique."

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