Olympique de Marseille head coach Jean-Louis Gasset has explained what his players need to do in order to stop the red-hot Gianluca Scamacca during Thursday evening’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Atalanta.
The tie is currently level after the 1-1 draw at the Stade Velodrome last week.
Scamacca has now scored in each of his last five appearances, with four coming in Serie A against Salernitana, Hellas Verona, Cagliari and Napoli, plus his opener after 11 minutes against Marseille last Thursday.
Gasset, who conducted his pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening, was asked specifically about the threat posed by Scamacca. He explained that his defenders will need to keep a particularly close eye on the Italy international due to his size and strength.
“We have faith in our defenders, but we must not give him the slightest bit of space,” Gasset told the press, reported via TMW.
“We have to watch him even more so than the others because he is strong, tall and has lots of different qualities. We have to mark him closely, we can’t leave him any freedom.”
Speaking about Atalanta as a whole, Gasset said that he feels Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are the favourites heading into the return leg in Bergamo.
“I’m no statistician, but a team that draws away from home are the slight favourites. But, like we did against Benfica, we are ready to give everything to qualify.”