The Europa League
final day ended
with the match between
Olypique de Marseille
and
Benfica
. Despite the overall advantage for the Portuguese, the Frenchmen went out to find the match and achieved a tie by winning 1-0 in the 90 minutes. In extra time no advantages were taken and everything was decided
from the penalty kick
.
In Benfica the world champions Ángel Di María
and
Nicolás Otamendi
started
while in Marseille
Leonardo Balerdi
started and
Joaquín Correa
came on in the second half. In the first 45 minutes they did not take advantage and went to the locker room 0-0.
When the game resumed, we had to wait until the 68th minute when
Jordan Veretout
overflowed the left side and threw a cross back that was destined for the left foot of Frenchman
Geoffrey Kondogbia
who finished off the goal, but his goal cry was avoided by the goalkeeper
Anatolii Trubin
who stopped the ball without rebounding.
In the 79th minute the first emotion of the match would come with Faris Moumbagna
's goal
. This time the one who would overwhelm would be
Pierre Aubameyang
who would deliver a perfect cross to the Cameroonian's head. Moumbagna would rise higher than everyone to shoot for goal, the ball would get between Trubin's legs.
With the series tied the game would go to overtime. Despite the attempts of both teams to finish the story in the remaining 30 minutes, no one would break the tie on aggregate and everything would be decided by the penalty kick.
I would start by kicking Benfica
.
The one who took responsibility for kicking the first penalty would be
Ángel Di María
. The Rosario player kicked, but the ball hit the left post of Spanish goalkeeper Pau López. Then another Argentine would go,
Joaquín Correa
, who would change the penalty into a goal to put the French ahead.
DI MARÍA MISSED HIS PENALTY IN FRANCE.
📺 Watch the #UEL on #StarPlusLA pic.twitter.com/fXwouoXEj3
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) April 18, 2024
Orkun Kokcu would continue kicking for
Los Encarnados
and score the goal. For Marseille it would be Kondogbia's turn. The Frenchman would put his team ahead 2 to 1. In Benfica it would be
Otamendi
's turn , the former Vélez would kick a perfect penalty that would hit the wall of the goal.
Until then it was 2 to 2, but
Balerdi
would take the ball and be in charge of putting the score 3 to 2. However, António Silva would miss the fourth penalty and leave the match ball to Marseille. Brazilian Luis Henrique converted his penalty into a goal and put the French team in the Europa League semi-final. Now they will have to face Atalanta.
Marseille will seek to reach its fourth
Europa League
final . Previously he played in the 1998-1999 season against
Parma
, 2003-2004 against
Valencia and the last one in 2017-2018 when he lost 3 to 0 with
Diego Simeone
's team
. It is the only French team to date to be champion of the Champions League, but it has never been able to lift the trophy of the second competition at the European club level.