Photo Credit: UEFA
The spoils of war were shared between Olympique de Marseille and Atalanta BC in France at the Stade Velodrome. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side managed to extend their away unbeaten run to nine in this competition. The Phoceens (Marseille) came into this semi-final clash with 100% record of progressing from three previous UEL and UEFA last-four clashes. They however were facing a La Dea side with all the morale having already dumped Liverpool in the quarter finals.
Atalanta aimed to start with a banger as they managed to break the deadlock in the 11th minute via Gianluca Scamacca who netted his 16th goal of the season. The orchestrator of the attack was the brilliant Teun Koopmeiners whose pass needed near perfect control from Scamacca. He did everything right and topped it all off with a clinical finish past Pau Lopez. Nine minutes later the hosts came back on level terms.
Chancel Mbamba released a long-range strike which curled and superbly hit the inside of the post after a superbly worked short corner from the right side. The hosts did not let up on the pressure after the goal. Matteo Ruggeri managed to block Aubameyang’s effort. The striker came close again to putting his name on the scoresheet but he missed out after dragging an angled shot wide at the end of a swift counter-attack.
After the break, Mbemba had the chance to punish Juan Musso for a poorly punched clearance and double his tally but his diving header sailed over the bar. Substitute Ademola Lookman almost made his desired impact as a sub with a curling strike that curled just past the post. The fans were surely getting their money’s worth as this end to end contest continued to enthrall.
Ismaila Sarr thought he had netted the second goal of the day after he reacted quickest from a punched ball from the goalkeeper. However the goal was ruled offside after Luis Henrique was deemed offside in the build-up. Atalanta manager will be the happier of the two managers as he managed to escape with a draw in the South of France hoping to take full advantage of his home field in the second leg next week.
