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Marseille fans in fine voice for Benfica Europa League clash

Written by Jamie Barton
Last Update: April 19, 2024
Published on

It was a good night to be a Marseille fan last night. The French side left it late but managed to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg to beat Benfica on penalties and advance to the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they will meet Atalanta.

It is the first time Les Phocéens have got this far in the tournament since 2017-18, when they made it to the final but were beaten 3-0 by Atlético Madrid.

Unsurprisingly, the Stade Velodrome crowd was in a jubilant mood, and various videos on social media have shown the French fans thoroughly enjoying their evening.

marseille fans
The Stade Velodrome may have changed a fair bit in recent years, but it is still quite the sight on European nights. Photo by Icon Sport

Videos from the Velodrome

The pick of the clips shows the Marseille players chanting with their fans after the game. Attacking midfielder Amine Harit leads the celebrations, but the emotion on every player’s face is fantastic to see.

The festivities were not confined to after the game, however, as videos from before kick-off show the Marseille ultras on the Virage Sud celebrating the 100th anniversary of Greek club AEK Athens.

You might be thinking “Wait, what? What do AEK Athens have to do with anything?”. Well, the Marseille ultras are actually part of a so-called “triangle of brotherhood” with the left-wing sections of the AEK ultras, as well as those of Italian side Livorno. AEK ultras even refer to Marseille as “The Greeks of Provence”.

But the Marseille fans did not give all their pre-match attention to AEK. They also “welcomed” Benfica with the famous Aux Armes chant – which is chanted back and forth from behind each goal and calls the people of Marseille to arms to fight for their team.