‘There is no favourite’ – Marseille cautious after drawing Benfica in Europa League quarter-finals
Olympique de Marseille could breathe a sigh of relief as they managed to avoid the two favourites for the Europa League : Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. However, the club would stress that there was no easy draw in the competition after they were paired with Benfica.
Like Marseille, the Portuguese side has reached the final before but never managed to win this competition. Both will be keenly aware that they are far from favourites in this tournament, and neither can particularly claim to be favourites to reach the semi-finals.
Les Phocéens despite defeating Villarreal 4-0 in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie were forced into an uncomfortable game where the Spanish side came within a goal of overturning their deficit. Marseille had to rely on a late rescue from Jonathan Clauss (31) to settle the affair and see the side through to the next round 5-3 on aggregate.
Speaking to RMC Sport , Marseille ambassador, Basile Boli cautioned that “ There is no favourite… We want to produce something and give it our all to please our supporters. We’ll play with a humility for the blue and white jersey that will be talked about for the years to come .”
GFFN | Nick Hartland
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