Marseille and Atlanta play out 1-1 draw in Europa League semi

In what was an evenly-contested Europa League semi-final first leg, Olympique de Marseille and Atalanta managed a 1-1 draw on Thursday. The showdown took place at the Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France on May 2, 2024.
Atalanta's Italian forward Gianluca Scamacca opened the scoring within the first 11 minutes. A sublime pass from Teun Koopmeiners found Scamacca who, unmarked in the box, finished crisply into the far post. This marked Scamacca's 16th goal across all tournaments this season.

The lead, however, was short-lived as Chancel Mbemba managed to equalise for his side just nine minutes later. The stellar long-range effort from Mbemba careered off the post and into the net following a corner kick.
The match, filled with missed opportunities in the second half, saw both sides unable to capitalise and break the deadlock. The 1-1 result leaves the semi-final tie wide open.

The second leg is slated to take place next Thursday in the city of Bergamo, where both Marseille and Atalanta will be anxious to seal their tickets for the big final set for May 22 in Dublin. The victorious team will meet either AS Roma or Bayer Leverkusen, following their own semi-final encounter.