Benfica fans will not be banned from traveling to Marseille next week, April 18, the office of French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told AFP on Thursday.
“At the request of Gérald Darmanin, there will be no ban on the travel of Benfica fans to Marseille on April 18,” the minister’s office said after the reaction of the Lisbon team and when the French fans announced that they were traveling to Marseille. Lisbon.
The information from the office comes just a few hours before the first leg of this Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final between Benfica and Marseille (20:00), which will take place at the Da Luz Stadium in Lisbon, and after the Portuguese club also vetoed the presence of French fans in response to an equal share of French fans.
Benfica said on Tuesday it had been notified by French authorities that its fans would be banned from the return match next week.
A situation that led to a similar recommendation from the Portuguese police to Marseille fans, which the club complied with and decided to cancel the tickets already issued and purchased by their rivals for this Thursday’s match at the Estádio da Luz stadium.