Europa League Betting: Marseille v Benfica

Europa League / Tobias Gourlay / 17 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

Benfica's Javier Saviola doesn't need to be told where the goal is.

Recommended Bets: Back Benfica To Qualify at [2.56]; back Over 2.5 Goals at [2.0]

Benfica are a cut above the peloton in Portugal and can get a result they want at the Velodrome on Thursday evening, says Tobias Gourlay.

Hatem Ben Arfa's late equaliser in Lisbon last week makes Marseille [1.62] favourites to capitalise on their 1-1 draw and qualify for the quarter finals of the Europa League at Benfica's expense. Benfica's midfielder, Javi Garcia, was bullish in the face of a result that was not nearly as good as it looked like being for a long time, insisting that the team left with heads held high. Garcia's coach, Jorge Jesus, has all of his most regular starters available to him for the second leg and is confident the [2.56] outsiders will go through to the next stage.

Since September, OM have only two clean sheets from 15 matches in all competitions at the Stade Velodrome. Couple that with Benfica's record of having scored at least once in 18/21 matches away from home this season and there's good reason to suppose Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola or one of the Portuguese club's other talented attackers will find a way to the home goal. OM, who must probably do without Gabriel Heinze, have an in-form striker of their own, Mamadou Niang, and Over 2.5 Goals ([2.0]) certainly looks the right side of the line to be on, despite the general paucity of goals in Portuguese and French domestic football. All four European matches at the Velodrome so far this season have paid out that bet and none of the previous visitors have failed to score.

Pre-Christmas wins away to Everton and BATE Borisov suggest Benfica ([3.75]) are capable of winning Thursday's game, but OM don't lose many home games - they're unbeaten at the Velodrome in 2010 - so, amid press speculation that Didier Deschamps might rotate the Marseille team in order to be best prepared for this weekend's big Ligue 1 match with Lyon, this column will take Benfica to qualify at [2.56].