Feyenoord hosts Olympique Marseille in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final on Thursday. Kick-off in a packed De Kuip is at 20.00.

Feyenoord has had an excellent European campaign so far and are now only two games away from reaching the Europa Conference League final. Arne Slot’s side have seen off FK Partizan and Slavia Prague to reach the semi-finals

Standing between Feyenoord and a clash against either AS Roma or Leicester City is the French side Olympique Marseille.

The Ligue 1 outfit started their campaign in the Europa League but they dropped into the Conference League after finishing third in their group that contained Lazio, Lokomotiv Moscow, and Galatasaray. They then convincingly saw off Qarabag, Basel and PAOK to set up the meeting with Feyenoord.

Coached by Jorge Sampaoli, Marseille are currently sitting second in their league, and they go into Thursday’s match on the back of a 1-0 win at Stade Reims, which keeps them on course for the Champions League.

Feyenoord defeated Utrecht 2-1 at the weekend thanks to a 96th minute winner and they are third in the Eredivisie.

Team News

Feyenoord have been boosted by the return to fitness of Guus Til and Marcos Senesi, who will both start. Justin Bijlow and Jens Toornstra are both out.

Possible Feyenoord line-up: Marciano, Geertruida, Malacia, Trauner, Senesi, Kokcu, Aursnes, Til, Sinisterra, Nelson, Dessers

Leonardo Balerdi and Konrad de la Fuente are out for Marseille, while Cengiz Under is a big doubt for the clash. Former Ajax striker Arkaduisz Milik could be given the nod up front.

Possible Marseille line-up: Mandanda; Peres, Saliba, Kalasinac, Rongier; Kamara, Gerson, Guendozi; Payet, Harit, Milik

Odds

Feyenoord 23/20 Draw 13/5 Marseille 11/5

Can Feyenoord take a victory to France?

It is a huge game for Feyenoord on Thursday and the atmosphere in De Kuip should be incredible.

Both sides go into the game in decent form with Marseille only losing one of their last 11 games, which was against PSG. Feyenoord will need to be at their best to come away with a victory but at home they are more than capable of doing that.

Luis Sinisterra and Orkun Kokcu are in great form and both can hurt Marseille, but the worry is whether the defence can keep out Payet and Milik.

The second leg in France next week will be a difficult night so it is crucial that Feyenoord can take a good result to Marseille.




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