A European evening to find some energy again. Olympique de Marseille travels to Lisbon on Thursday April 11 for the first leg of the quarter-final between Benfica, the reigning Portuguese champion. The Marseillais remain with a defeat in Lille (3-1) which relegates them to ten points behind the Northerners and the qualifying places for the Champions League. But the dreams of a European title remain intact in the Marseille city, and they come with a good result at the “Estadio da Luz”.
Black streak for OM
Nothing is ever all black or all white, except at Olympique de Marseille. The Marseille club does not take half measures, even in its results: after five victories in a row following the arrival of Jean-Louis Gasset on the bench, the Olympians have just suffered four defeats in a row. A brutal return to reality, which eliminated the club from the race for the Champions League via the championship (8th to 10 points from Lille, 4th). But OM remains in the race in the Europa League, and must take advantage of this European evening to put their minds back in place and get closer to the last four.
An attack dependent on Aubameyang
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang no longer has his 20-year-old legs, but the Gabonese has some nice remains. Top scorer in the Europa League (9 goals in 9 appearances), he led OM in the previous rounds against Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal. “PEA” embodied the offensive success of the beginnings under Jean-Luis Gasset (the Marseillais had scored 18 goals in 5 matches), but the latter only shook the net once (thanks to Aubameyang, again) out of the three last meetings.
Last chance also for Benfica
Last week, the Lisbon club lost everything, or almost. His hopes for the national cup first, Tuesday April 2, in the semi-final against Sporting Portugal (2-2 after a 2-1 defeat in the first leg). Then his title chances, last Saturday, against his Lisbon rival again (2-1 defeat). Pushed back four lengths in the league, with one more match to play for Sporting, Benfica only has the Europa League to hope for a trophy this season, like OM.