French Ligue 1

Stade de Reims 3-1 Montpellier

Montpellier's woeful start to the Ligue 1 season continued Friday as the defending champions crashed to a 3-1 defeat at newly promoted Reims.

Diego Rigonato, Christopher Glombard and Gaetan Courtet were the scorers for the home side, with the only reply coming from the boot of Remy Cabella.

The result means Montpellier, which begins its Champions League campaign against Arsenal in midweek, have won just one of its opening five matches and sit on four points -- three worse off than Friday's opponents.

Montpellier had the first chance of the match after nine minutes when Emanuel Herrera released Karim Ait Fana, but the midfielder saw his attempted lob palmed away by home goalkeeper Agassa Kossi.

Visiting keeper Geoffrey Jourdren was then called into action five minutes later to repel a threatening 25-yard drive from Rigonato.

The match looked fairly even at this stage although Montpellier tried to gain the upper hand with a low strike from John Utaka which was punched clear by Agassa.

However, it was Reims who went ahead seven minutes before the interval through Rigonato, who notched his first Ligue 1 goal with a powerful finish from Antoine Devaux's long ball forward.

Montpellier was back on level terms 10 minutes into the second half. Cabella exchanged a one-two with Younes Belhanda before unleashing a right-footed strike from the edge of the area beyond the reach of Agassa.

The visitors failed to build on their momentum, however, and trailed once more after 70 minutes when Glombard picked up a loose ball in midfield before slicing through the defence and chipping Jourdren.

And Montpellier's misery was compounded four minutes from time when Glombard turned provider with a pass which Courtet fired low into the net.