Our prediction for this Europa League match:
Benfica
Match Time & Date:
11/04/2024
21:00
Prediction: 2-0
Marseille
Estadio da Luz will be the centre of attention when Benfica and Olympique Marseille square off against each other in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, first leg. The Eagles aim to recover from the Lisbon derby defeat and we are positive that they are going to adopt an attack-minded approach in Thursday’s clash. Roger Schmidt has a luxury to field the best possible side against OM.
Jean-Louis Gasset’s troops, meanwhile, suffered a dip in form, with the team extending their losing run to four games in all competitions. As Benfica are a real force to be reckoned with at home, we do not believe that the visitors are going to grab something from Thursday’s showdown. The likes of Ismaila Sarr, Jean Onana, Chancel Mbemba, Jonathan Clauss, Bamo Meite, Amir Murillo, and Valentin Rongier are sidelined with injuries for the visiting team.
Highlighted Player (Angel di Maria):
Angel Di Maria is a professional footballer who played for Argentine side Rosario Central at the start of his senior career. The left-footed winger is very quick on the ball and he often makes life difficult for opposition defenders. After playing for Benfica between 2007 and 2010, the Argentine superstar signed for Real Madrid on 28 June, 2010 for a fee of €25 million + €11 million in bonuses.
Despite impressing with los Blancos in the 2013/2014 La Liga campaign, the club chiefs decided to sell him to Manchester United on 26 August, 2014. Di Maria was playing below expectations at Old Trafford and he scored three goals in 27 league games for the Red Devils.
In 2015 he moved to Paris Saint-Germain and he scored 10 goals in 29 league appearances for les Parisiens in the 2015/2016 Ligue 1 campaign. In 2014 he won the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid and that is considered the biggest success of his career. Angel Di Maria was born in Rosario on 14 February, 1988.
Highlighted Team (Marseille):
Olympique de Marseille are considered one of the best French football clubs. Les Olympiens won their ninth Ligue 1 title in 2010, but winning of the 1992/1993 Champions League trophy is seen as the club’s biggest success. Marseille defeated Italian giants Milan in the title game, with Basile Boli scoring the winner (1-0) in the Olympiastadion showdown.
It has to be noted, though, that the Stade Velodrome outfit were banned from defending the title in the 1993/1994 season after being involved in a match-fixing scandal. To make things even worse for the fans, the club suffered enforced relegation to the Ligue 2. Olympique de Marseille participated in the Europa League final on two occasions (1998/1999, 2003/2004), but they were beaten by Parma and Valencia respectively in the title games. OM’s home ground Stade Velodrome was opened on June 13, 1997 and the capacity of the stadium is 67.394.
The likes of Franck Ribery, Didier Deschamps, Didier Drogba, Laurent Blanc, Fabien Barthez, Samir Nasri, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Djibril Cisse all played for Marseille in the past.
Juventus 
Fiorentina 
West Ham 
Liverpool
Milan 
AS Roma
Sporting 
Aston Villa 
Brighton 
Ipswich 
Chelsea 
