Olympique Marseille:s Jean-Louis Gasset prepares for crunch tie against Benfica

Olympique de Marseille Jean-Louis Gasset hopes to guide his side to the semi-finals of the Europa League against Benfica.

Olympique de Marseille will on Thursday host Benfica at the Stade Vélodrome with the hope of overturning the 2-1 deficit and securing passage into the Europa League semi-final. 

This has led to anticipation in Marseille as the club’s hopes for European qualification next season appear blank. With their position on the Ligue 1 table, they could only qualify for the European competition next season if they won it outright. 

Marseille are out of the top seven, currently 9th on the log with 39 points. The club have experienced inconsistent results, making them drop out of the top seven (a position that would be good enough to secure European football for next year).

 Gasset has been trying to steady the ship for the club less than two months since he replaced Gennaro Gattuso. 

Keenly aware of the weight of expectation in the city, the manager, in an exclusive interview with La Provence, Gasset, explained that all the fans hope they can erase many things because it’ll give them much hope.

He added that if the team responds as it has done so far in the competition at the Vélodrome, it will mean that he did not come for anything and will have experienced the moments he wanted to experience here.

 Gasset pointed out that the task is not impossible for Marseille.

Marseille are going into the game on a five-match losing streak, and the new manager bounce that arrived with Gasset is long gone.

They did the job in the last round when they eliminated La Liga side Villarreal CF. They’ll hope for the same drama at the Velodrome once more and revive their hope for another season.

Any club that wins the Europa automatically qualifies for next season’s Champions League.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed