WatchMarseille vs Atletico Madrid Live Stream Online Football Final
Atletico Madrid and Marseille have conflicting records in Europe's second-tier cup competition.
The Spanish outfit have appeared in two UEFA Europa League finals and won both of them, in 2010 and 2012.
Marseille
have also reached two finals, when the competition was still the UEFA
Cup, in 1999 and 2004, but they were the losing side on both occasions.
The two sides come together for 2018's Europa League final at Lyon's Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday, and many expect Atleti to continue both their perfect record and Marseille's losing one.
Date: Wednesday, May 16
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST, 2:45 ET
TV Info: BT Sport 2 (UK), ESPN Deportes (U.S.)
Live Stream: BT Sport website, WatchESPN
Preview
Since they last won the Europa League in 2012, Atleti have been to two more major European finals.
In both 2014 and 2016 they lost the UEFA Champions League final to city rivals Real Madrid.
A
tough group in the 2017-18 Champions League led to Diego Simeone's
dropping down into the Europa League, and they have seen off FC Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal to reach the final.
Marseille, meanwhile, had to play a qualifying round against KV Oostende and a play-off versus NK Domzale just to reach the group stage of the Europa League after coming fifth in last season's Ligue 1.
They have since ousted Braga, Athletic Bilbao, RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg in the knockout rounds to get to the final.
The upshot of their relative routes to Lyon is that these two sides occupy quite different standings in the European game.
Marseille
are an exciting and capable team, but they face a challenge on
Wednesday to beat an Atleti side who could arguably hold their own
against anyone else in Europe.
Squawka Football @Squawka
Atlético Madrid have kept more clean sheets (112) than they have conceded goals (107) at home across all competitions under Diego Simeone. The Master Builder. 🔨 https://t.co/T5c64EDVpW
Certainly
Simeone's charges boast one of the best defences on the continent, and
Marseille will need their attacking stars—the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Lucas Ocampos—to be at their best if they are to find the net.
Per Goal's Joe Wright,
there has been some concern that Payet, who has provided seven assists
and netted three goals in the Europa League this season, could be a
doubt for the final, but he said he is "confident" of returning to
fitness in time following a muscle complaint.
For Marseille's sake, he better be right, as manager Rudi Garcia will need his best XI on the pitch in Lyon.
Not
only do Atleti boast a solid defence, they also have Antoine Griezmann
and Diego Costa in attack, two players capable of taking advantage of
even the slimmest of chances.
Marseille
go into Wednesday's clash as underdogs. Atleti are a Champions League
pedigree side who have plenty of trophy-winning experience in their
squad.
That cannot be said
for Marseille, who will need to produce their best performance of the
season if they are to win the Europa League.
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