Marseille show København no mercy

Olympique de Marseille will meet SL Benfica in the round of 16 after another measured UEFA Europa League performance subdued willing FC København.

Unruffled by a bracing wind, Marseille's start was as bright as their visitors' lurid pink away kit, with Fernando Morientes and Bakari Koné going close. Dame N'Doye, as ever, was København's attacking spearhead, and he was to head straight at Steve Mandanda twice in the first half as the Danish side looked to spark a recovery.

Already 3-1 down from the first leg, København's comeback chances always looked slender, and Hatem Ben Arfa effectively killed off the tie two minutes before the break, arrowing a low shot through Johan Wiland's legs from an acute angle at the far post after Laurent Bonnart's well-intentioned cross had looped over Benoît Cheyrou.

Jesper Grønkjær and Martin Vingaard had good efforts after the break as København refused to give up the ghost, but their sinking ship was holed beneath the waterline again on 62 minutes. The industrious Koné scampered through to chase Taye Taiwo's infield ball from the halfway line, rounding Wiland to tap into the unguarded net.

Koné then made it 3-0, gathering a ball from the left and taking a touch before dinking neatly over Wiland. Substitute Ailton Almeida slipped the Marseille offside trap to beat Mandanda with time ticking down, but as they prepare to host Marseille in the first leg of their round of 16 contest on 11 March, Benfica will do well to note how few chances Didier Deschamps' side needed to score six in this tie.