\n
Benfica lead Marseille 2-1 in the Europa League quarter-finals and now they can finish the job in the second leg at Stade Velodrome.<\/p>\n
Against an out-of-sorts Marseille, Benfica showed their superiority in the first leg.<\/p>\n
Rafa Silva and Angel Di Maria scored either side of the break to put the Primeira Liga club in control but a second-half strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has at least given Marseille some hope heading into the second leg.<\/p>\n
But the bubble has burst under Jean-Louis Gasset with Marseille having lost their last five matches and getting back on the winning trail may not be straightforward against opponents determined to progress to the last four.<\/p>\n
Team news<\/h2>\n
Marseille have a lengthy injury list with Ismaila Sarr, Jonathan Clauss, Bamo Meite, Quentin Merlin, Jean Onana, Valentin Rongier and Bilal Nadir all unavailable.<\/p>\n
Benfica\u2019s only injury concern is defender Juan Bernat.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stats<\/h2>\n
Marseille have lost each of their last five fixtures against Villarreal, Rennes, PSG, Lille and Benfica, conceding 12 goals in the process.<\/p>\n
Benfica, meanwhile, are yet to lose across five games in this season\u2019s Europa League.<\/p>\n
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the Europa League\u2019s all-time top scorer with 34 goals, having scored in the first leg in Lisbon.<\/p>\n
Prediction<\/h2>\n
Benfica endured a pretty miserable Champions League campaign earlier this season but they have gone from strength to strength in the Europa League and can progress to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Benfica have already knocked out Toulouse and Rangers in this season\u2019s competition and proved themselves in the first leg, when they deservedly came out on top.<\/p>\n
These sides would ordinarily be more evenly matched but Marseille are in a rut at the moment, having lost five matches on the spin under Jean-Louis Gasset.<\/p>\n
They will at least have the backing of a fiery Stade Velodrome on Thursday night but that is offset by their lengthy list of absentees.<\/p>\n
With plenty of key men absent for the hosts, Marseille are light on options and they could struggle to tame their Portuguese visitors.<\/p>\n
Benfica have lost only one of their last nine games in all competitions and know a draw would be good enough to take them through to the last four of the compeitition.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, they may adopt a more conservative approach to this match and they are worth selecting draw no bet, whereby stakes are returned in the event of a stalemate. LiveScore: Live Sport Updates<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Benfica lead Marseille 2-1 in the Europa League quarter-finals and now they can finish the job in the second leg at Stade Velodrome. Against an out-of-sorts Marseille, Benfica showed their superiority in the first leg. Rafa Silva and Angel Di Maria scored either side of the break to put the Primeira Liga club in control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n
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