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Europa League: Marseille Knocked Out on the Verge of the Final, Beaten by Atalanta Bergamo
Text: A week after the drawn first leg at the Vélodrome, Atalanta Bergamo defeated Olympique de Marseille (3-0) in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final. Atalanta will face Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin on May 22 in their first-ever European final.
Olympique de Marseille was decisively defeated by Atalanta Bergamo on Thursday, May 9 (3-0), and eliminated in the Europa League semi-final, just shy of reaching the final in Dublin. Marseille's European journey abruptly ends in Italy, and they must quickly refocus on the challenges of Ligue 1, where they currently sit in 9th place to avoid a completely fruitless season.
Marseille, second to last in Ligue 1 away matches, has only won one game outside the Vélodrome in the Europa League, against AEK Athens (2-0, November 9).
As the last French representatives in European competition following PSG's elimination on Tuesday in the Champions League, Marseille nonetheless held onto hope. The day before the match, their coach Jean-Louis Gasset had hoped for a perfect start from his players, promising "fight and duel," asserting that his team was ready for the crucial moment of their season.
However, things didn’t unfold as planned: in the first ten minutes, Marseille made numerous errors, too easily surrendering possession to Atalanta players in their own half.
In the 24th minute, following a corner, Gianluca Scamacca struck the crossbar of Pau Lopez's goal before the Spanish goalkeeper of Marseille saved his team with a deflection after a header from Charles De Ketelaere that followed.
Five minutes later, Pau Lopez could do nothing against Ademola Lookman's shot from outside the box, who had outplayed Geoffrey Kondogbia and Samuel Gigot (1-0, 30th minute).
Having scored, the Nigerian turned provider early in the second half, setting up Matteo Ruggeri before beating Pau Lopez (2-0, 52nd minute) to give "La Dea" a definitive advantage.
The enchanted European interlude closed, Marseille must now refocus on the French championship where they have not shone this season. Currently ninth in Ligue 1, with a game in hand, Marseille is not currently qualified for any European competition.
They even hope that their arch-rivals PSG win the French Cup against Lyon on May 25. This would offer a European ticket to the 7th-placed team in Ligue 1, a position that Marseille can still aim for. However, it's far from certain yet.