Marseille vs. Red Bull Salzburg: Europa League News, Live Stream, TV Info

Marseille welcome Red Bull Salzburg to the Orange Velodrome on Thursday for the first leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final.

The hosts are slight favourites going into the game and warmed up for the clash nicely with a 5-1 thrashing of Lille on Saturday.

However, Salzburg are also in good form and, having scored 13 goals in their last four outings, will fancy their chances of claiming an away goal.

Here's a look at how you can watch the game, followed by team news and a match preview.

Date: Thursday, April 26

Time: 8:05 p.m. BST/3:05 p.m. ET

TV: BT Sport 3 (UK), Fox Sports 2, ESPN3 (USA)

Live Stream: BT Sport Player, WatchESPN, Fox Sports Go

Team News

Marseille have injury problems and will be without goalkeeper Steve Mandanda who is expected to miss the rest of the domestic season with a thigh problem, per Ligue 1.

The club have also confirmed Japanese international Hiroki Sakai is out for three weeks with a knee injury, via their official website.

Boubacar Kamara is also a doubt after missing Sunday's win over Lille with injury, but both Rolando and Bouna Sarr made their returns in the game and should be available.

RB Salzburg don't have any new injury concerns going into the match but are able to welcome back Diadie Samassekou from suspension.

Payet to Prove the Difference?

Marseille's Dimitri Payet has enjoyed a superb season in the Europa League, and his team may need his creativity and invention to break down RB Salzburg.

Opta showed how he is the man for the job in Europe:

The Frenchman has certainly been in good form recently, as shown by Goal:

He's not the only threat Marseille possess with Florin Thauvin having managed 21 goals this season, while Lucas Ocampos and Nabil Fekir also carry a real threat.

Kostas Mitroglou is also starting to come good after a poor 2017, as shown by the club's Twitter account:

Marseille have plenty of attacking options and should cause problems as they seek to take an advantage to Austria for the second leg.

Third Time Lucky for Marseille and Salzburg 

Thursday's game will be the third time this season the two teams have met in the Europa League. They faced each other in the group stages with Salzburg drawing 0-0 in Marseille and winning 1-0 at home.

Football writer Mohammed Ali was not impressed with the two matches but is expecting better this time around:

The results mean Salzburg may feel they have the edge over their opponents. They will certainly be confident after another fine season, as shown by the UEFA Europa League:

However, Marseille have a strong home record, and their draw with Salzburg is the only match the Ligue 1 side have failed to win in Europe this season.

Rudi Garcia's side have scored five goals in both of their last two home matches and will be backed by a strong home support. Get French Football News showed how much demand there has been for tickets:

There looks to be very little between the two teams, and they both come into the game in good form. Home advantage may just swing it in Marseille's favour, but the visitors will already know exactly what to expect in France.