No fewer than 190 clubs have been involved at one stage or another of the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League. And now just Marseille and Atlético Madrid remain, the French club having joined the fray way back in the third qualifying round, the Spanish side several months later as refugees from the UEFA Champions League.
Atlético, who finished behind Roma and Chelsea in their Champions League group, have come through their four Europa League knockout ties in impressive style. They routed both FC Copenhagen and Lokomotiv Moscow before edging more competitive ties against Sporting CP and Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate.
Marseille, meanwhile, have eliminated opposition from Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Turkey, Portugal again, Spain, Germany and Austria on their 18-match odyssey to the final, which is being staged, rather handily, just up the Rhone Valley in Lyon.
Marseille can cite a degree of home advantage, but it is Atlético, with their array of household names, former Europa League winners and Champions League finalists, who are the clear favourites to prevail at the Parc OL.
OM have a couple of in-form stars of their own in ex-West Ham luminary Dimitri Payet – who has a chart-topping seven assists in the competition – and former Newcastle flop Florian Thauvin – second only to PSG’s Edinson Cavani in the Ligue 1 scoring list with 22 goals – but it is Atlético who boast by far the greater pedigree and big-match experience.
Arsenal were given first-hand knowledge of Atlético’s legendary defensive fortitude in both legs of the semi-final, with goalkeeper Jan Oblak and centre-back Diego Godín both enhancing their already lofty reputations, and there were fine goals too in that tie from Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa. The ex-Chelsea striker’s second-leg performance was everything you want from a centre-forward – strength, industry, skill and a lethal, match-winning finish.
Even though Atlético’s effervescent coach Diego Simeone will again be forced to watch from the stands as he continues to serve the (harsh) four-match touchline ban handed out to him by UEFA following his outburst at Arsenal, his influence on the team will be there for all to see in Lyon – solid and organised at the back, disciplined and combative in midfield, dynamic and powerful in attack – and Marseille will have their work cut out to both threaten and contain them.
Although, as the underdogs, Marseille will be favoured by many neutrals – and also, one imagines, by the vast majority of French fans eager to see the trophy won for the first time by a Ligue 1 club – the feeling lingers that they are lucky to be in Lyon. Their semi-final extra-time tie-winner against Salzburg came from a corner that should not have been awarded (the shot clearly deflected off a Marseille player), and that was just one of several key decisions that erroneously went their way in both games against the Austrian side.
Rudi Garcia’s side will need more than fortune to smile on them if they are to beat Simeone’s men, win the Europa League final and, of course, secure the added bonus of a place in next season’s Champions League group stage – something that looks to have eluded them in Ligue 1 (they sit fourth with a game to go, three points behind second-placed Monaco – who also have a much better goal difference – and one behind Lyon).
Atlético, on the other hand, have already booked their 2018/19 Champions League group stage berth via La Liga, so the only thing that matters to them is to end a four-year trophy drought and get their hands on UEFA’s heaviest trophy for the third time in the nine seasons of the Europa League, thus matching the record of Spanish rivals Sevilla.
Prediction: Atlético to claim that third Europa League crown, their all-round class in attack and defence proving too much for Marseille. 2-0
Did you know? This season is only the second time in eight attempts that Atlético have failed to get beyond the group stage of the Champions League. On the only other occasion, in 2009/10, they went on to win the inaugural Europa League.
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