Olympic – Liverpool, Getty Images January 22, 2026, 12:06 AM

The central confrontation late on Wednesday evening in the seventh round of the UEFA Champions League was a meeting at the Velodrome between local Marseille and English Liverpool. Arne Slot’s team, no matter what problems they faced in the domestic arena, but in the European Cups had quite good momentum and quite justifiably claimed to be among the eight best teams based on the results of the main round. Roberto De Dzerbi’s wards would keep their hopes for this only in the event of a victory over the “reds” in a reported confrontation.

That is why the hosts tried to maintain the attacking pace during almost the entire confrontation. But in the end, the “Provençals” were hindered by the realization of scoring opportunities, while the opponents had no problems with this, even in episodes such as Ekitike’s scored goal in the middle of the first half from Soboslai’s cross from the right wing, which was disallowed due to the Frenchman’s offside.

Marseille tried to keep Liverpool in suspense until the end, but it happened that they brought themselves a dangerous moment near their own penalty area shortly before the break in the form of a set-piece, from which Soboslai shot a low shot under the wall into the right corner. De Zerby’s team had an opportunity to reset during the rest period, and they almost took advantage of it.

After all, the hosts had several bright attacks at the beginning of the second half, to which the opponents tried to respond with quick attacks, as a result of which we almost saw an exchange of goals almost immediately after the restart of the game. However, Ekitike’s shot was caught by the right post, and Traore sent the ball over the goal in a moment on the counterattack.

In the end, the De Zerbi team did not manage to hold on against the opposing courses. In the middle of the second half, a cross from the right wing of the penalty box into his own goal at the near post was clumsily deflected by Rouglie, after which the fate of the match was already decided, and a demotivated Marseille missed the third goal in stoppage time, when Gakpo on the left wing of the penalty box took advantage of Gravenberch’s pass and directed the ball into the far corner.

In the final round, France’s Marseille will visit Belgium’s Brugge, while England’s Liverpool will host Azerbaijan’s Karabakh.