Mattéo Guendouzi will become one of the game's best midfielders according to Jorge Sampaoli. Can he lead Olympique de Marseille past Feyenoord and to UEFA Europa Conference League glory?
Feyenoord - Olympique de Marseille
- kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Marseille are in formidable form ahead of their Europa Conference League semi-final first leg meeting at Feyenoord's De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam on Thursday.
Sampaoli's side won through to this stage of the competition with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Greek outfit PAOK and have only lost one of their last 11 games in all competitions - a narrow 2-1 reverse to Paris Saint-Germain in the recent Classique.
What's at stake?
Leicester City and Roma meet in the other semi-final, with the winners of this year's showpiece in Tirana qualifying for next season's UEFA Europa League; unless, like Marseille, they are already on course for a UEFA Champions League berth domestically.
OM are the best of the rest in France behind recently crowned Ligue 1 Uber Eats champions PSG, with a six-point cushion on third-placed Stade Rennais FC after beating Stade de Reims 1-0 on Sunday.
Gerson got the winner for Marseille at the weekend, but it is his midfield partner Guendouzi whom Sampaoli thinks can power les Phocéens to glory this season.
Watch: Highlights of Marseille's 1-0 win at Reims
"His physical condition is excellent," he said of the Arsenal-owned 23-year-old. "He can recover very quickly and has less risk of injury. He has also managed to impose himself, which can be seen with his selections for France. Finally, he's the soul of the team.
"He hasn't progressed thanks to me, it's in general, he's gained in maturity. He's on the way to becoming one of the best midfielders in the world."
Four into three
It's fair to assume that Guendouzi will start, then. Whom he has for company in midfield remains to be seen. Sampaoli has recently moved to a 4-3-3 and Gerson might be due a start after the Reims game, which leaves Boubacar Kamara and Pape Gueye competing for one spot.
Further forward, Cengiz Under and Konrad De La Fuente are out with knee injuries while Luis Henrique is ineligible, so the recently fit Arkadiusz Miik should be joined by Dimitri Payet and Amine Harit in the final third.
Revenge to be had?
Marseille have a monkey to get of their back with Feyenoord, having lost 3-0 before drawing 0-0 with the 15-time Dutch champions in the now-defunct second group stage of the 1999/2000 Champions League - their only previous meetings.
They will be helped to that end by the continued absences of Feyenoord's first-choice goalkeeper Justin Bijlow and captain Jens Toornstra, although 21-goal midfielder Guus Til is expected to shake off a knock in time to play.
Possible teams
Marseille: Mandanda; Rongier, Saliba, Caleta-Car, Peres; Guendouzi, Kamara, Gerson; Harit, Milik, Payet
Feyenoord: Marciano; Geertruida, Trauner, Senesi, Malacia; Aursnes, Kokcu; Nelson, Til, Sinisterra; Dessers