This week sees the 1st leg ties of the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League being played and features the upcoming clash between French Ligue 1 hosts, Marseille, and their Greek Super League visitors, PAOK, at the Stade Orange Vélodrome with both teams keen to get ahead in this opening leg.
Marseille bring an impressive looking five-match winning streak in all competitions into this Thursday night’s showdown against PAOK having picked up victories in Ligue 1 over Brest, Nice and St Etienne, along with home and away wins against Swiss outfit, Basel, winning 4-2 on aggregate in the previous round of the Europa Conference League.
⚪️🔵 Marseille have lost only one of their ten European matches this season (W5 D4 L1) 👏👏👏@OM_English | #UECL pic.twitter.com/TxbOFhpc2O— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 5, 2022
⚪️🔵 Marseille have lost only one of their ten European matches this season (W5 D4 L1) 👏👏👏@OM_English | #UECL pic.twitter.com/TxbOFhpc2O
Indeed, Marseille’s path into these quarter-finals of the Europa competition has been a relatively smooth one as the French hosts easily disposed of Azerbaijan club, Qarabag, 6-1 on aggregate in the earlier round which makes it an overall aggregate of 10 goals scored and just 3 goals conceded overall in their last two ties overall.
Marseille’s form at home has also been steady as the hosts have lost just two of their last 11 matches at their Stade Orange Vélodrome.
PAOK had also put together a recent five-match winning sequence in all competitions before they stumbled to a 2-1 loss away from home at Panathinaikos in the Greek top flight on the weekend.
This would have been a slight blow for PAOK’S preparations for this important 1st leg tie in France on Thursday night.
Nevertheless, PAOK have lost just one of their last 10 matches in all competitions.
It includes six wins along with victories over Danish side, Midtjylland, in a penalty shoot-out after the aggregate scores were level at 2-2 and a 3-1 win on aggregate over Belgian outfit, Gent.
PAOK therefore have reason to be upbeat and confident about their chances in this upcoming 1st leg at Marseille, especially as the Greek visitors have lost just twice out of their last 11 outings on their travels and picking up seven wins in the process.
The visitors have also registered wins on the road in previous away ties at this level at Rijeka, Lincoln Red Imps, FC Copenhagen and Gent but undoubtedly their biggest test awaits in the shape of Marseille who are expected to take a 1st leg lead here.