Farewell to the C3 in Monaco, Marseille extends the adventure in C4, not Rennes
Monaco and Rennes say they are stopping, Marseille again. The knockout stages of the Europa League and the all-new Europa League Conference broke on the French side on Thursday.
Lyon, which receives Porto in the evening (9:00 p.m.), is the last French representative in C3 after ASM’s 1-1 loss against Braga, fourth in the Portuguese championship and winner 2-0 in the first leg. OM will be the only French club in the quarter-finals of C4, Rennes having failed to achieve the feat against Leicester, despite a 2-1 success.
At the Louis II stadium, despite the 2-0 conceded in the first leg, the Monegasque coach Philippe Clément believed “possible to make this + comeback +”. The handball of his goalkeeper Alexander Nübel on a shot certainly blocked but distant from Abel Ruiz (20th) very quickly thwarted these hopes.
The Belgian coach, who arrived in January on the Rock, is going through a bad patch: the Principality club has won only one of its last eight matches.
– Under and Rongier release OM –
In the new continental tournament launched this season, the “third” European cup that is the Europa League Conference, Marseille ended up overcoming Basel with the same score as the first leg (2-1) to qualify for the quarters.
The penalty obtained and then missed by Amine Harit, who stumbled on the Basel goalkeeper (38th), however looked like a wrong turn.
Especially when the Swiss opened the scoring via Dan Ndoye (63rd). The former Niçois, alone at the far post, propelled a cross into the net from Steve Mandanda, taking advantage of a loose marking from Luan Peres.
But the Marseillais quickly equalized on a similar action with Cengiz Under at the finish (74th). A flat foot from Valentin Rongier, served back at the entrance to the surface by Matteo Guendouzi, definitively delivered Jorge Sampaoli (90th +2).
At Roazhon Park, deliverance never came even if Rennes believed in it until the end of more than six minutes of added time.
In line with the demonstration in Lyon last Sunday in Ligue 1 (4-2), Benjamin Bourigeaud ignited the match against Leicester, champion of England 2016, by kicking down a cross from Martin Terrier (9th) .
Bruno Genesio’s men have never lowered their heads. Even when the French defender of the Foxes, Wesley Fofana, back to competition seven months after his broken tibia, struck a blow to Rennes’ recovery dreams with an uncrossed header from a corner (51st).
Breton determination partially paid off, Flavien Tait concluding a handover from Serhou Guirassy and a raid from Adrien Truffert to offer the last twenty hot minutes to the Rouge et Noir (76th). It took a decisive kick from Kasper Schmeichel against Serhou Guirassy (85th) to deprive Rennes of extra time.
In this first series of knockout rounds without surprise, Barcelona prepared in the best way for the Clasico against Real Madrid on Sunday by winning at Galatasaray (2-1) thanks to two goals from Pedri and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – the 7th since arriving in Catalonia this winter.
And Atalanta, already victorious 3-2 in the first leg in Lombardy, won in extremis in Leverkusen (1-0) thanks to a tumble from Jérémie Boga who concluded closely (90th).