Olympique Marseille vs Benfica Match Preview
Marseille are aware that they will be into the quarter finals if they do not concede in the 2nd leg match against Benfica. A late leveler from Hatem Ben Arfa allowed Marseille to come away from this fixture with high spirits. Benfica are undated in their last three European away games with two wins and a draw. This match has the potential to be a very intense, high paced game with many scoring opportunities.
Marseille welcome the Portuguese giants this week after dropping two points in Ligue 1 over the weekend. A fatigued Marseille side had trouble controlling the match. Brandao struck early and allowed the french side to come away with a valuable point away from home. Marseille now sit 6th in Ligue 1 only three points behind France\'s league leaders Bordeaux.
Keeper Steve Mandanda has kept the French side in contention in many games this season. He commented on his teams approach in the second leg. \"It will play like we played today(Against Toulouse). And we should not seek to defend against a very good team offensively. This will be complicated but we need to be able to score and be strong. It will be tight but it will be a good game to play.\" With home support and a team in control of its own destiny, I expect to see a confident french side. They are very strong team going forward and have an arsenal of players who can create chances.
Befica\'s midfielder Javi Garcia is determined that his team will prevail in France and spoil Marseille\'s recent jubilation. \"They\'ll be playing at home with their supporters but we\'ve travelled to many difficult stadiums this year and we\'ve responded well on most occasions.\" Benfica have achieved great results at Everton, FC BATE Borisov and Hertha Berlin so far in the Europa League. Winger Ramires also appears to be very confident in his teams ability to produce a good result away from home. \"Of course we can score over there.\" \"We just have to stay calm and focus. We\'ve played the first half and now the second half is coming up. We\'ll be very focused.\" Benfica has the second highest scoring tally in the Europa League, 19 goals. They have a very promising young Argentine in Javier Saviola who is producing on both club and the international level. If he can get himself in the game and create space and opportunities for himself and his team, he can be the x factor for Benfica.
