Olympique de Marseille supporters will finally be able to access the Benfica stadium on Thursday evening to watch the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League. On Tuesday, their tickets for the match in Lisbon were deactivated by the Portuguese club, in response to a possible travel ban for their own fans during the return match in a week in Marseille.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Thursday that Benfique supporters would ultimately not be banned from traveling to Marseille for the return game on April 18. “I am happy that we have returned to reality and that the supporters can support their team as we have always claimed,” reacted AFP Rachid Zeroual, the leader of the South Winners, the main group of Marseille fans, present in Lisbon on Thursday afternoon. ‘We would have gone anyway because you can't prohibit people from entering the stadium even though they have paid for the tickets,’ said another member of the group, who wished to remain anonymous.