OM recalled their taste for the European Cup this Thursday evening. In the Europa League (C3), a competition where the Marseille club has reached the final three times (1999, 2004, 2018), the Marseillais won by a wide margin against Villarreal (4-0) in the round of 16 first leg at the end of a match totally to their advantage. They will travel calmly to Spain, in a week, for the return leg.
After a calm first twenty minutes, the Vélodrome, deprived of part of a northern bend behind closed doors, was able to ignite thanks to Jordan Veretout. The French international midfielder is found in the area by Jonathan Clauss, author of a perfect cross, and deceives the Spanish goalkeeper with a diving header (22nd). Almost immediately, Amine Harit, very mobile, crosses towards Ismaïla Sarr and provokes an own goal from defender Yerson Mosquera (28th).
The Colombian loses his footing and commits a big mistake in the area on the same Ismaïla Sarr (39th). Called by his video assistant, the referee awards a logical penalty, transformed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (42nd), author of his 32nd goal in the competition. A record for the Marseille striker excluding the preliminary rounds of the C3.
But his beautiful evening does not end there. The Gabonese international scores a magnificent double and therefore a 33rd goal in the Europa League (9 this season) with a delicious left-footed dive before the hour mark (59th). Enough to push Villarreal, who will finish the match at 10 against 11 after the exclusion of Moreno (62nd) after a nasty tackle on Ismaïla Sarr.
The last half hour of play was very calm between a satisfied OM and a Villarreal wanting to stop the bleeding. See you on March 14 (6:45 p.m.) for the return but OM has one foot and four fingers in the quarter-final.
