The remote mic-mac around the presence or not of Benfica and OM supporters in the opposing team’s stadium, during the Europa League quarter-finals which will be played between the two clubs this Thursday (9 p.m.) and April 18, continues.
A few hours before the first leg, in Lisbon, the entourage of the Minister of the Interior indicated to AFP that Benfica supporters will not be banned from traveling to Marseille for the return, on April 18.
An announcement against a backdrop of confusion over Marseille supporters’ access to the match this Thursday in Lisbon between OM and the Portuguese club. “At the request of Gérald Darmanin, there will be no travel ban on Benfica supporters in Marseille on April 18,” said his entourage.
The Portuguese club assured that it had “been officially notified by the French authorities” of such a measure to justify the deactivation of Marseille supporters’ tickets during the quarter-final first leg, which takes place on Thursday evening.
Official press release from Olympique de Marseille concerning the travel of Olympian and Portuguese supporters during the Europa League quarter-finals.
— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) April 11, 2024
OM supporters will go to the Stade de la Luz
“In view of the authorization of the presence of Benfica supporters in Marseille, Marseille supporters will also be authorized to be present for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League, the tickets they have acquired becoming valid” , communicated Benfica.
“Benfica welcomes the decision of the French authorities to reverse their previous measure and authorize Benfica supporters to go to the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals,” underlined the Lisbon club, praising the effective collaboration between “Benfica, Marseille and UEFA from the first hour, in order to find the outcome that would best defend football. »
OM, for its part, “is pleased that all the efforts made in recent days have resulted in a favorable outcome in which Pablo Longoria has always believed and thanks all the stakeholders who worked in this direction,” explained the French club in a press release, calling on “all OM supporters to go to the stadium calmly”.
In the middle of the afternoon, several hundred Marseillais were gathered in a relaxed atmosphere installed on the terraces of Commerce Square in Lisbon, on the banks of the Tagus, noted an AFP journalist. “We would have gone anyway because you can’t ban people from entering the stadium when they have paid for the tickets,” said a member of the South Winners, who wished to remain anonymous.
The Portuguese authorities took this decision because they considered that the possible travel ban on Portuguese supporters in France could give rise to excesses in Lisbon during the first leg, according to a source close to the matter. In a context of very high terrorist threat in France, the police feared the presence of unsupervised supporters or hooligans looking for confrontation.
In direct contact with Rui Costa, the former great Portuguese N.10 now president of Benfica, OM president Pablo Longoria has been pushing for several days for a solution to be found. On Wednesday, he assured that he would not attend the match if OM supporters were banned from entering the stadium.
In the meantime, the Portuguese police have announced that a “reinforced” system would be put in place to support OM fans in the city center, but also around the stadium and in the public transport network.
