Olympique de Marseille and European football, the seemingly never-ending love story has another page to be written on Thursday evening as Jean-Louis Gasset’s side face Benfica at home needing to overturn a 1-0 aggregate score to qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League for the first time since the 2017-2018 season.
The situation mirrors that of Rudi Garcia’s side going into what would become a thrilling quarter-final second leg at the Vélodrome against the Red Bull-owned outfit. OM began their journey in Europe that season by finishing behind Salzburg in Group I on eight points. Garcia’s side then swept aside Braga (3-1) and then Athletic Club Bilbao (5-2) on aggregate before facing Leipzig in the quarter-finals.
WATCH: OM complete dramatic 5-2 comeback against Leipzig in 2018
A memorable seven-goal thriller
Les Olympiens risked elimination after the first leg when a goal from Timo Werner just before half-time put the Bundesliga side in front (1-0). Similarly to Benfica, the Germans led by one goal going into the second leg at the Vélodrome…
Led by an exceptional performance from talisman Dimitri Payet, Rudi Garcia’s side managed to turn around the situation with an emphatic (and chaotic) 5-2 win to qualify for the semi-finals. It was a poor start however for OM, who conceded within the first two minutes to a goal from Brumu. Yet, an own goal from Stefan Ilsanker would give the hosts a chance to get back into the game (6′).
Bouna Sarr (9′) and Florian Thuavin (38′) found the back of the net before half-time as Les Phocyeens managed to turn the tie on their head at 3-2. The German side responded by leveling through Jean-Kévin Augustin in the 55th minute, but two more goals from Dimitri Payet (60′) and an injury-time strike from Hiroki Sakai (90+4′) saw the home side complete a thrilling turnaround in a cauldron-like atmosphere at the Stade Vélodrome.
>>UEL Preview: Marseille vs Benfica
