Last night, Benfica did not come to the Cote d’Azur to play football but to ‘smother’ it. At all costs to defend the advantage from Da Luz, and such things often do not meet the approval of the football gods. They are not in favor of the Lisbon club anyway, ever since Béla Guttmann cursed them because he did not get a raise after the European title. He cursed them for the next 100 years, and the Portuguese giant still feels the consequences to this day.The curse doesn’t come off just like that, and Marseille also cemented how strong and real it is. Fortune smiled on the poor French club, it smiled on the crowded Velodrome. The crowd fell into a trance after the penalty shootout because Olympique will play in the semi-finals of the Europa League. One of the culprits for Benfica’s elimination is Angel Di Maria, a man who is well remembered at this place – 1-0 (1-0, 0-0), penalties 4-2.UEL: Bayer is still unbeateable – Frimpong scores in the last minute for the semi-finalIn the past, Benfica tortured Marseille, caused them immense pain. It was done by the generation that included Angel di Maria almost a decade and a half ago. After a comeback and goals from Maxi Pereira and Alan Kardec – in the end, Hatem Ben Arfa was shown a red card – the Lisbon team qualified further. Payback was long overdue, but it came! In a way that was perhaps the best possible.Benfica, like Marseille, threw all their cards at the Europa League. They rested their main men but got nothing from them. The Eagles went to the Velodrome to try and ‘kill’ the match from the opening whistle and were close to a goalless draw, but the biggest exit transfer in the history of the Norwegian Bode/Glimt appeared. Faris Moumbagna’ header redirected a cross sent in by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the Cameroonian paid 8,000,000 euros sent the ball behind Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin to take the match to extra time.The result did not change during the additional 30 minutes, and last night the Ukrainian was not the hero. Lady Luck left all her charm with Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Andriy Lunin the prior evening, nothing was left for Anatoly Trubin.The shooters of the French club were calm and collected: Joaquin Correa, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Leonardo Belardi and Luis Enrique. Benfica’s penalty takers – not so much…The start was already disastrous because Angel di Maria shook the post instead of the net. Orkun Kokçu and Nicolas Otamendi were accurate but Pau Lopes’ stop on Antonio Silva’s shot brought Marseille into the semi-finals of the Europa League.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUEQuarterfinals – second legThursdayAtalanta – Liverpool 0-1 (0-1)/Salah (p) 6/Atalanta win 3-1 on aggWest Ham – Leverkusen 1-1 (1-0)/Antonio 13 – Frimpong 89/Leverkusen win 2-1 on aggOlympique Marseille – Benfica 1-0 (0-0)/Moumbanga 71/Marseille win on penalties 4-2Roma – Milan 2-1 (2-0)/Mancini 12, Dybala 22 – Gabbia 85/Roma win 3-1 on agg