On Sunday (10.04) Marseille played against Montpellier in the French championship. Jorge Sampaoli gave key players such as Payet and Bakambu a rest, but his team did not suffer from their absence and locked up the win from early on.

In the ninth minute, Dieng opened the scoring and in the 19th minute, Under added a second to make it 2-0 with a penalty. Marseille were able to step off the gas in the second half and hold firm to the three points.

The Marseille squad arrived in Thessaloniki on Wednesday (13.04) without Arkandius Milik, who did not overcome his injury problems, as well as suspended trio Gerson, Kamara and Dieng. Sampaoli, who also picked up one yellow card too many in the first leg, will also be forced to watch the game from the stands.

The situation of Caleta-Car, who did not play in Sunday’s game against Montpellier, remains in question, but he is included in the team’s squad, which includes the following players:

Madanda, Simon, Lopez, Saliba, Kolasinac, Caleta-Car, Lirola, Mmadi, Peres, Moustier, Gueye, Rongier, Guendouzi, Bertelli, Pitu, Bakambu, Payet, Benyahia, Under, Harit.

In the pre-match news conference, Steve Madanda spoke about the confidence that he and his teammates have in their ranks, while he also referred to the atmosphere of the Toumba, saying: «We know what to expect in terms of atmosphere, and we know the opposition. We are 11 against 11 and we have to maintain our quality and calmness so that we can have possession to make it difficult for them. We trust in our strengths.»

For his part, Sampaoli’s assistant, Jorge Desio, referred to the team’s absentees, stating:

«We are missing some important players but we will go out there on the pitch with confidence. There are players who have not played more than 5-6 games but we can get a positive result with the team we have.»