Reims could end up playing in Europe, and in Ligue 2 next season, in a frantic season finale

If you'd told supporters of Stade de Reims back in August, that their distinguished team would be just one win away from playing in Europe next season, they'd have been absolutely thrilled. Unfortunately, you would then have to add a fairly big 'but'. The caveat is that Reims are also one bad defeat away from being relegated to the second-tier of French football. 

Over the next week, this venerable French team are in what their head coach, Samba Diawara, has described as "the nightmare scenario." One part of this scenario involves a Coupe de France final against PSG on Saturday, a trophy that Reims have not won since 1958. A victory would put Reims into next season's Europa League and blow PSG's chances of a quadruple this season.

So why the long faces?

Well, the problem for Reims is that this set-piece spectacle against PSG is sandwiched between two playoff matches where the team based just a couple of hours drive north-east of Paris, will have to fight for their Ligue 1 survival.

A disastrous campaign has left Reims third-from-bottom in Ligue 1, a spot that puts its holders into a two-legged playoff match against a contender from Ligue 2. This year, that team is Metz, a confident club that finished third in France's second tier and is looking to bounce back to the Ligue 1, a status lost (ironically) in last season's relegation playoff. 

Wednesday's first leg kicks off an eight day period where it will be hard for the Reims players to know where to focus. On one hand, there's a backs-to-the-wall attitude needed in the double-header against Metz. Against PSG, the mindset needed will be plucky upstarts aiming to take down the potential champions of Europe. "Clearly, it will be difficult to focus on it," admitted Reims goalkeeper, Yehvann Diouf ahead of Saturday's final.

Although Reim's season has been woeful since the end of October, with just four wins from 27 games in Ligue 1, three defeats in a row at the end of the campaign, including a 2-0 home defeat against the relegated Saint Etienne, has been them in jeopardy. Indeed, just a single point against St. Etienne would have been enough to move up one spot and put Le Havre in the relegation playoff zone.

Instead, it wasn't to be and Reims now face three matches where heaven could be a Coupe de France win, and Ligue 1 survival. Or it could be hell, with a relegation and a PSG pounding. Of course, there is the third option of purgatory: playing Europe next season whilst navigating the choppy waters of French second tier football.