The Ministry of the Interior finally allowed Benfica Lisbon fans to come to Marseille on April 18, for the quarter-final second leg of the Europa League. At the same time, the Portuguese authorities announced that Marseille supporters would also be able to attend the first leg on Thursday evening.
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Benfica Lisbon supporters will finally be able to be present at the Stade Vélodrome on April 18. The Ministry of the Interior in fact went against the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture which had, initially, prohibited access to the stadium for Lisbon fans before retracting on Thursday April 11 via a press release published on “the request of the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories”. They should therefore be able to be in the stands for the quarter-final second leg of the Europa League, thereby unblocking the situation of their Marseille counterparts who are also authorized to attend the first leg on Thursday evening.
Following the first announcement from the French authorities, Benfica had chosen in recent hours to cancel the tickets of OM supporters for the quarter-final first leg, which will be played on Thursday evening in Lisbon. Hundreds of Marseillais were already present in the Lusitanian city. The president of the Marseille club, Pablo Longoria, had expressed the possibility of not being present for the meeting, in support of supporters in the confusion.
The Lisbon police quickly reacted to this decision of the French Ministry of the Interior, by lifting the cancellation of tickets and allowing Marseille supporters, expected up to 3,000 according to the South Winners group, to be in the stands from the Estadio de la Luz.
