When the draw of the Round of 16 of the Europa League matched Marseille and Villarreal, it was to be the first ever competitive clash between these two clubs. But taking into account the media hype before the game and the private security to the Spanish club’s coach it looked like a derby match. And all because Villarreal’s coach Marcelino was literally chased away from Marseille bench by a small group of extreme fans. He then said to L’Equipe that Marseille is ‘not a big club’ due to the fact that ‘some radical supporters want to constantly influence events’. Those words backfired big time when his Villarreal drew Marseille as the most popular club in France sunk the ‘Yellow Submarine’ with 4-0 in the first game.His former player Amine Harit said that “It’s going to be fiery, especially with the recent statements he’s made. Honestly, it’s given us even more desire to play a big match on Thursday. They’re going to have to be ready because we’re not giving them an easy match”. And boy was he right. By 42nd minute, it was 3-0 already for the home team. To be fair, due to a number of injuries, Marcelino had to experiment in defense, which is never a good thing, especially in hostile environment in Europe, but he didn’t have a choice. In the 23th minute, Clauss made a great cross from the right and Veretout was on the spot to slam the ball into the back of the head inside six meters for the lead. Five minutes later, Mosquera cleared under pressure from Sarr… and scores an own goal. And just two minutes before the break, another defensive blunder and it was Mosquera again. The Colombian player brought down Ismailla Sarr in the penalty area and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on spot for the third goal. The Gabon striker scored a brace half an hour from time with a wonderful cross turned into a lob form the left side which sent the home fans into a delirium. When former Liverpool’s Alberto Moreno came in the 45th minute but was sent off already in the 62nd minute, it was all over from the Spanish team. UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE1/8 finals – first legWednesdaySporting – Atalanta 1-1 (1-1)/Paulinho 17 – Scamacca 39/ThursdayRoma -Brighton 4-0 (2-0)/Dybala 14, Lukaku 43, Mancini 64, Cristante 68/Qarabag – Leverkusen 2-2 (2-0)/Benzia 26, Vieira 45+2 – Wirtz 70, Schick 90+2/Sparta Praha – Liverpool 1-5 (0-3)/Bradley (og) 46 – Mac Allister (og) 6, Nunez 25, Darwin 45+2, Diaz 53, Szoboszlai 90/Olympique Marseille – Villareal 4-0 (3-0)/Veretout 23, Mosquera (og) 28, Aubameyang 42(p), 59/Freiburg – West Ham 1-0 (0-0)/Gregoritsch 81/AC Milan – Slavia Praha 4-2 (3-1)/Giroud 34, Reijnders 44, Loftus-Cheek 45+2, Pulišić 85/Benfica – Rangers 2-2 (1-2)/Di Maria (p) 45+2, Goldson 67(og) – Lawrence 7, Sterling 45+5/
