Olympique Marseille Preview

By Mark Heys
February 14 2006

UEFA Cup football returns to the Reebok Stadium tommorow evening as Bolton Wanderers welcome French outfit Olympique Marseille to their home for the first leg of the final 32 stage.

Wanderers finished third in Group H following the conclusion of the Group stages back in December whilst Marseille won Group F three points ahead of Bulgarian side Lefski Sofia.

L'OM are no strangers to European competition as they infamously won the European Cup in 1993 and went through the gruelling process of lifting the highly contraversial Intertoto Cup last year.

Both teams have selection problems for this game with Bolton's manager Sam Allardyce facing the prospect of being without Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf after the ex-Liverpool star picked up a groin injury whilst on international duty.

Henrik Pedersen (achillies), Ivan Campo (foot) and Khalilou Fadiga (knee) are all definately out but there is some good news for midfielder Gary Speed who made a recent comeback in the Wanderers reserves following a knee injury.

Japan midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata is suspended for the hosts so that could mean a rare start for the one time Paris Saint Germain playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha who has recently returned from the African Cup of Nations.

Experienced centre half Bruno N'Gotty is in line to face his former club by partnering Israeli star Tal Ben-Haim at the heart of the Trotters defence.

Marseille coach Jean Fernandez is without Mickaël Pagis and Toifilou Maoulida as both have already appeared in the competition earlier on in the season for their previous clubs.

Midfielder Sabri Lamouchi is a doubt with a groin strain as is the former Fulham and Rangers defender Jerome Bonnissel who has been suffering from bruised ribs recently.

Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez is in the visiting squad and is likely to keep his place between the posts following the last match which was a goalless draw against Toulouse.

The second leg of this all important European tie will take place at the Stade Velodrome on 23rd February 2006.

CONNECTIONS: Ibrahim Ba, Fabrice Fernandes, Bruno N'Gotty, Franck Passi

BOLTON WANDERERS SQUAD: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ian Walker, Joey O'Brien, Nicky Hunt, Tal Ben-Haim, Bruno N'Gotty, Radhi Jaidi, Jarostaw Fojut, Ricardo Gardner, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Kevin Nolan, Jay-Jay Okocha, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Kevin Davies, Matt Jansen, Jared Borgetti, Ricardo Vaz-Te, El-Hadji Diouf

OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE SQUAD: Fabien Barthez, Cedric Carrasso, Andre Luis, Taye Tainwo, Demetruis Ferreira, Renato Civelli, Frederic Dehu, Alain Cantareil, Habib Beye, Bostjan Cesar, Medhi Benatia, Alexis Pradie, Jose Delfim, Franck Ribery, Wilson Oruma, Lorik Cana, Samir Nasri, Thomas Deruda, Romain Campagna, Mamadou Niang, Christian Gimenez, Andres Mendoza, Fabrice Begeorgi