Benfica vs Marseille predictions: More misery for Marseille
- Benfica are second in Portuguese top-flight
- Marseille sit down in eighth place in Ligue 1
- Recommended bet: Benfica to win and both teams to score
Benfica look set to establish a first-leg lead over Marseille when they host the French side in their Europa League quarter-final.
The Eagles must quickly forget about Saturday's 2-1 defeat in the league to Sporting in the Lisbon derby, a result which leaves them four points behind their local rivals at the top of the table, as attention now turns back to Europe.
After knocking out Toulouse and then Rangers in the previous two rounds, Benfica will want to come out on top at the Estadio da Luz on Thursday as they look to put themselves in a great position to progress to the last four.
Team news
Benfica defender Fredrik Aursnes was sent off against Sporting, but should keep his place in the side before beginning his suspension in the upcoming weekend league fixture against Moreirense.
If boss Roger Schmidt decides to make changes then Arthur Cabral and Marcos Leonardo could be handed recalls, but key men Nicolas Otamendi, Angel Di Maria and Joao Neves are all set to start.
Marseille defender Chancel Mbemba is back in training and could return to the line-up but Bamo Meite, Jonathan Clauss, Valentin Rongier, Michael Murillo and Ismaila Sarr are all absent through injury.
Ulisses Garcia, Pape Gueye and Jean Onana are all unavailable as they are not registered in Marseille's Europa League squad.
The stats
After finishing third in their Champions League group, Benfica beat Toulouse 2-1 on aggregate in the Europa League knockout play-off round and then Rangers 3-2 on aggregate in the last 16.
Marseille finished second in Europa League Group B behind Brighton, and have since seen off Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal in the knockout stage.
Benfica have scored in their last 19 games in all competitions at home, racking up 49 goals in total in that run.
Marseille have registered eight goals in total in their five away games in this season's Europa League.
Prediction
Benfica's defeat to Sporting at the weekend ended a six-game unbeaten run and they will look to get that result out of their system when they return to European action against a Marseille side who have lost their last four on the trot.
The French giants just about progressed past Villarreal in the last 16, relying on their 4-0 win at home in the first leg as they subsequently lost the away second leg 3-1.
Marseille have scored in seven of their last nine matches coming into this trip to Portugal and have so far only failed to find the back of the net in one of their 10 outings in the Europa League this season, so they can usually be relied upon for a goal.
However, Benfica, who are on an eight-game unbeaten streak at home in all competitions, winning six of those matches, should have enough to prevail.
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