Benfica fans will not be banned from traveling to Marseille next week, on April 18, the office of the French Minister of Internal Affairs, Gérald Darmanin, told AFP this Wednesday.
“At the request of Gérald Darmanin, there will be no ban on the travel of Benfica fans to Marseille, on April 18th”, indicated the minister’s office, after the reaction of the Lisbon team and when French fans said they were on their way to Lisbon.
The information from the office comes just hours before this Wednesday’s first leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League between Benfica and Marseille (8 p.m.), at Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, and after the Portuguese club to have also vetoed the presence of French fans, in response to an equal measure from the French.
On Tuesday, Benfica reported that it had been notified by the French authorities regarding the ban on its fans in the second leg game, next week.
A situation that resulted in an identical recommendation from Portuguese police forces towards Marseille fans, which the club complied with and decided to cancel the tickets already issued and acquired by their rivals for this Thursday’s match at the Estádio da Luz.