Shakhtar vs Marseille: introducing the opponents
Thursday, February 15, 2024
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Shakhtar to face French Marseille in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase
February 15, Hamburg, Volksparkstadion, 19:45
The live broadcast will be available on Megogo
History and the 2023/24 season
Marseille is one of the oldest (founded in 1899) and most successful clubs in France: 9 league titles, 10 French Cups, 3 League Cups, 3 French Super Cups, 1993 Champions League winners. However, the last great success of the Provencals dates back to 2010, when they won the league title. Also, the team played in the UEFA Europa League final in 2018. For the past 7 years, the Blue-and-Whites have been consistently in the top five of French Ligue 1. They won bronze awards in the previous season.
Marseille started the 2023/24 European season in the Champions League qualifiers, where they were tumbled out by the Greek Panathinaikos (0-1, 2-2) in the first round and got to the UEFA Europa League group stage. Group B was called the most difficult in this year's tournament, and it became the brightest in terms of results. The Olympians played two super matches against Ajax (3-3 and 4-3), beat AEK twice (3-1 and 2-0) and did not deal only with English Brighton (2-2 and 0-1). With 11 points, the French side finished second and advanced to the Europa League knockout phase.
Things are not so positive for the Provencals in the French league: after 21 rounds, the team are in the 8th spot in the table with 30 points (goal difference: 29-23). They are 20 points behind the leaders, but only 7 points away from the Champions League zone. In Ligue 1, Marseille have not claimed any wins since last year: the team tied 4 times and suffered 1 loss in the championship, as well as were knocked out of the French Cup in 2024. The White-and-Blues hosted one of the outsiders of the league, Metz, at home over the weekend: they played with one man down from the 31st minute after sending-off of Samuel Gigot, despite this, they scored first (Faris Moumbagna scored in the 56th minute), but did not hold the advantage and lost points again – 1-1.
Squad and leaders
Gennaro Gattuso has been Marseille head coach since 2023. He previously was in charge of Milan, Napoli and Valencia and replaced Marcelino Toral at the French club. The 46-year-old Italian is known for his brilliant playing career, but as a coach he has won only one trophy so far – the Italian Cup (2020). This season, the team played 22 matches under the leadership of Gattuso, securing 9 wins, tying 7 times and losing on 6 occasions.
The main Marseille goalkeeper is the Spaniard Pau Lopez (29 matches this season, 34 mistakes), the leaders of the defence are centre-back Chancel Mbemba (5 goals) and right lateral Jonathan Clauss (2 goals and 8 assists). The main central midfielders are captain Valentin Rongier and Jordan Veretout, but they are both currently injured. The main star and the most prolific player of the team is 30-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has already scored 14 goals (5 in the Europa League) and provided 7 assists in the season.
Match background
Shakhtar and Marseille locked horns in the European competitions only once – in the 2008/09 season, the teams met in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. The Miners won in Donetsk at first - 2-0 (Hübschman, 39′; Judson, 65′), and then defeated the opponents away – 2-1 (Fernandinho, 30′; Luis Adriano, 90+3′ – Ben Arfa, 43′). We remind that that Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup that season.
The live broadcast will be available on Megogo
History and the 2023/24 season
Marseille is one of the oldest (founded in 1899) and most successful clubs in France: 9 league titles, 10 French Cups, 3 League Cups, 3 French Super Cups, 1993 Champions League winners. However, the last great success of the Provencals dates back to 2010, when they won the league title. Also, the team played in the UEFA Europa League final in 2018. For the past 7 years, the Blue-and-Whites have been consistently in the top five of French Ligue 1. They won bronze awards in the previous season.
Marseille started the 2023/24 European season in the Champions League qualifiers, where they were tumbled out by the Greek Panathinaikos (0-1, 2-2) in the first round and got to the UEFA Europa League group stage. Group B was called the most difficult in this year's tournament, and it became the brightest in terms of results. The Olympians played two super matches against Ajax (3-3 and 4-3), beat AEK twice (3-1 and 2-0) and did not deal only with English Brighton (2-2 and 0-1). With 11 points, the French side finished second and advanced to the Europa League knockout phase.
Things are not so positive for the Provencals in the French league: after 21 rounds, the team are in the 8th spot in the table with 30 points (goal difference: 29-23). They are 20 points behind the leaders, but only 7 points away from the Champions League zone. In Ligue 1, Marseille have not claimed any wins since last year: the team tied 4 times and suffered 1 loss in the championship, as well as were knocked out of the French Cup in 2024. The White-and-Blues hosted one of the outsiders of the league, Metz, at home over the weekend: they played with one man down from the 31st minute after sending-off of Samuel Gigot, despite this, they scored first (Faris Moumbagna scored in the 56th minute), but did not hold the advantage and lost points again – 1-1.
Squad and leaders
Gennaro Gattuso has been Marseille head coach since 2023. He previously was in charge of Milan, Napoli and Valencia and replaced Marcelino Toral at the French club. The 46-year-old Italian is known for his brilliant playing career, but as a coach he has won only one trophy so far – the Italian Cup (2020). This season, the team played 22 matches under the leadership of Gattuso, securing 9 wins, tying 7 times and losing on 6 occasions.
The main Marseille goalkeeper is the Spaniard Pau Lopez (29 matches this season, 34 mistakes), the leaders of the defence are centre-back Chancel Mbemba (5 goals) and right lateral Jonathan Clauss (2 goals and 8 assists). The main central midfielders are captain Valentin Rongier and Jordan Veretout, but they are both currently injured. The main star and the most prolific player of the team is 30-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has already scored 14 goals (5 in the Europa League) and provided 7 assists in the season.
Match background
Shakhtar and Marseille locked horns in the European competitions only once – in the 2008/09 season, the teams met in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. The Miners won in Donetsk at first - 2-0 (Hübschman, 39′; Judson, 65′), and then defeated the opponents away – 2-1 (Fernandinho, 30′; Luis Adriano, 90+3′ – Ben Arfa, 43′). We remind that that Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup that season.