EVERY year, the Europa League seems to attract teams who are bang average in their respective leagues, but come alive in European football.
And that seems to be the case when Marseille host Atalanta on Thursday's semi-final in front of a passionate Stade Velodrome.
Marseille sit a lowly seventh in Ligue 1 in what has been a very disappointing season for them. They have underachieved although they did at least warm up for this with a win against Lens on Sunday.
Yet in Europe, they have dug our some terrific results and none more so when they were 11 minutes of going out to Benfica after a first leg defeat before they netted that late goal to level on aggregate and win the quarter finals on penalties.
They've also beaten AEK Athens home and away, Ajax, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk before that win against Benfica.
But they face Liverpool's conquerors Atalanta and the Bergamo side have now won three games in a row in Serie A and Coppa Italia.
In Europe, they produced that stunning 3-0 win at Anfield, which was the start of Liverpool's dramatic fall from grace. They've also defeated Rakow Czestochowa, Sporting Lisbon twice and Sturm Graz in this competition.
How the bookies view it
Marseille are slight favourites here at 6/4 with bet365. Atalanta can be backed at 9/5 with Paddy Power and the draw is 5/2 with William Hill.
Recent head to head
The clubs have never met before in a competitive game.
Players to watch
Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is 34 now and has rocked up at Marseille, but he's still got it as his 14 league goals this season show.
Even more impressively, he has scored 13 further goals in 11 starts in European competitions this season. He is 29/20 to score anytime with UniBet.
Atalanta have a European expert of their own with Gianluca Scamacca scoring a deadly double at Liverpool in the last round and six in total in this competition. He has scored eight goals in his last ten games and is a tempting 23/10 to score anytime with BetVictor.
Anything else catch the eye?
There will be plenty of punters steaming into Atalanta on the back of them destroying Liverpool, but Marseille have lost just once at home in all competitions this season – and that was to PSG – and they can hold Aralanta to a draw.
Atalanta have played ten games in Europe this season and their only loss came at home to Liverpool when they had already built up a three-goal advantage from the first leg.
So either side will have to dig deep to get a win here and the call is for the draw that sides would probably settle for.
There's been plenty of goals when Marseille are involved and although affairs at this stage can be tight, this should be open. Go for over 2.5 goals at a solid 10/11 with UniBet.
This UEFA Europa League match between Marseiile and Atalanta will be played on May 2, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Marseiile vs Atalanta prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
