Marseille vs PAOK match facts

Winners of all four of their UEFA Europa Conference League matches, Marseille will be hoping to extend that run as they host Greek side PAOK in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

• Marseille came third in UEFA Europa League Group E, behind Galatasaray and Lazio, winning only their final fixture, at home to Lokomotiv Moskva, before sailing through their UEFA Europa Conference League knockout round play-off against Qarabağ (3-1 h, 3-0 a) and also claiming home and away wins (both 2-1) against Basel in the round of 16.

• PAOK registered 11 points in finishing second to FC Copenhagen in their UEFA Europa Conference League section during the autumn, before overcoming another Danish side, Midtjylland, 5-3 on penalties after each leg of the knockout round play-off had ended in a 2-1 home win, and then doing the double over Gent in the round of 16 (1-0 h, 2-1 h) to reach their first European quarter-final in almost half a century.

Previous meetings
• This is the clubs' first meeting in UEFA competition.

• Marseille's home record against Greek visitors is W2 L2, though they won the most recent encounter, 2-1 against Olympiacos in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage thanks to a pair of Dimitri Payet penalties. OM have won both of their two previous knockout ties against Greek opposition.

• PAOK have yet to win in four visits to France, drawing their first game there but losing the last three, the most recent 0-2 at Guingamp in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League group stage. They have won two of their three previous knockout ties against French opposition, though this is their first for almost 30 years.

Form guide
Marseille
• Fifth in last season's Ligue 1, which they completed under current coach Jorge Sampaoli, who arrived in February, Marseille returned to the UEFA Europa League for a fifth appearance in the group stage – a record for a French club – after finishing fourth in their UEFA Champions League section last season behind Manchester City, Porto and – despite that home win – Olympiacos.

• OM suffered their third UEFA Europa League group stage failure this season, drawing all of their first four fixtures, including twice against Lazio (0-0 a, 2-2 h), before surrendering any chance of further progress when they lost 4-2 at Galatasaray on Matchday 5. A closing 1-0 home win against Lokomotiv confirmed their third-placed finish on seven points – five more than the Russian side – before they eased through their opening two UEFA Europa Conference League ties against Qarabağ and Basel.

• Marseille have appeared in eight major European quarter-finals, winning six of them, including the first five as well as the most recent, against RB Leipzig in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League (0-1 a, 5-2 h).

• Marseille won eight of their nine matches at the Stade Vélodrome, including all four in the knockout phase, en route to the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League final in Lyon, where they were beaten 3-0 by Atlético de Madrid, but then lost their next five European home encounters before their current six-game unbeaten run (W4 D2), which includes wins in the last three.

PAOK
• PAOK qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League twice over last season, as runners-up in the league to Olympiacos and winners of the Greek Cup – for the eighth time – thanks to a 2-1 victory over the champions in the final.

• Having exited last season's UEFA Europa League at the group stage, PAOK entered the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League in the third qualifying round, where, under returning head coach Răzvan Lucescu, they beat Bohemians before knocking out Rijeka in the play-offs. In the group stage they twice beat Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar 2-0 and drew both games against Slovan Bratislava (1-1 h, 0-0 a) in addition to trading 2-1 away wins with Copenhagen.

• PAOK have appeared in only one previous UEFA quarter-final, which they lost to AC Milan in the 1973/74 European Cup Winners' Cup (0-3 a, 2-2 h).

• A 2-0 victory at Rijeka in August ended PAOK's nine-match winless run on the road in UEFA competition (D1 L8). However, the Matchday 3 success in Copenhagen enabled the Salonika club to win three consecutive European away games for the first time in their history. The round of 16 victory at Gent means their away record in the UEFA Europa Conference League is now W4 D1 L2.

Links and trivia
• Marseille striker Arkadiusz Milik's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th. He has scored 24 goals in his previous 49 matches.

• Marseille's Amine Harit and PAOK's Omar El Kaddouri are fellow Moroccan internationals.

• Milik and El Kaddouri were team-mates at Napoli in the first half of 2016/17.

• Gerson (Marseille) and Douglas Augusto (PAOK) both began their careers at Rio de Janeiro club Fluminense, playing briefly together in 2015 and 2016.

• Marseille are one of three former European Cup/UEFA Champions League winners in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-finals along with Dutch duo Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven.

• PAOK are one of three reigning domestic cup holders participating in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-finals, along with Leicester City and Slavia Praha.

• PAOK are the only Greek club still involved in this season's three European club competitions.

• Both clubs are currently placed second in their domestic leagues, although they had contrasting fortunes at the weekend as Marseille won 4-2 away to Saint-Étienne while PAOK lost 2-1 at Panathinaikos.

• The winners of this tie will face Feyenoord or Slavia Praha in the semi-final.