Football Results

After we have found out who are quarter-finalists of the Champions League we are going to find out on Thursday who reaches the quarter-finals of the Europa League, when all eight 2nd leg matches of the round of 16 will be played. Certainly, one of more interesting duels is this one between Athletic Bilbao and Olympique Marseille, which won at home 3-1 their first match.

Athletic Bilbao

Of course, result of the 1st leg forces the team from Basque country on far more risker approach in the second match but we all know that they can win anyone at their San Mames stadium, and it is absolutely possible to annul Marseille’s advantage from the first match of two goals. True, more open tactic will leave more room to the visiting team for fast counter-attacks, but manager of the home team Ziganda doesn’t have much choice and we should expect more offensive Athletic than seven days ago at the Velodrome.

Last weekend the Basques won Leganes 2-0 in La Liga but they still occupy mere 12th place in the table, where plenty of points separate them both from positions that lead to Europe and relegation zone and because of that Athletic can fully focus on coming match with Marseille. The match will skip injured midfielder Rico and forward Muniain, midfielders San Jose and Garcia are suspended due to accrued yellow cards, while stopper Inigio Martinez is not eligible to play in the Europa League.

Probable lineups Athletic Bilbao: Arrizabalaga – de Marcos, Alvarez, Etxeita, Balenziaga – Iturraspe, Benat – Susaeta, Williams, Cordoba – Aduriz

Olympique Marseille

The guests from France are quite surely far more relaxed than Athletic players before the 2nd leg of the round of 16 given their advantage of two goals from the first match played at the Velodrome stadium. In the match the home team had a lead of 2-0 after only 15 minutes thanks to goals scored by Ocampos and Payet. After that the guests reduced the backlog from penalty awarded in the injury time of the first half, but around middle of second half Ocampos again scored for the final 3-1.

In the meantime Marseille was successful in the French championship and it won in Toulouse by 2-1 so it still has just four points fewer than 2nd-placed Monaco. It is far more important for them to have five points more than 4th-placed Lyon. Let’s add that manager Garcia couldn’t count in last two matches on injured midfielder Sertic and winger Thauvin, while forward Mitroglou has recovered and he even scored against Toulouse after he came off the bench.

Probable lineups Olympique Marseille: Mandanda – Sakai, Rami, Rolando, Amavi – Luiz Gustavo, Sanson – Lopez, Payet, Ocampos – Germain

Verdict:

Given minus of two goals from the 1st leg played at the Velodrome we definitely expect from team led by manager Zigande to use now in the best possible way the home-field advantage. Still, it remains to be seen will it be enough to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa Laegue.

Pick:  Athletic Bilbao wins 2.53 - 153/100 @1XBet