Olympique de Marseille produced a memorable comeback at the Stade Vélodrome on Thursday evening to advance to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League after defeating RB Leipzig 5-2 in their quarter-final second leg.
After falling to a 1-0 defeat in Germany a week ago, the French side had it all to do to turn the tie around and it got even harder from them when Bruma scored a crucial away goal in the second minute of the game, meaning the home side had to score at least three to go through.
The hosts responded well to going behind in the game as an Stefan Ilsanker own goal and a goal from Bouna Sarr turned the game around for Les Olimpiens.
Florian Thauvin then added a third goal just before half-time but a goal 10 minutes into the second half from Jean-Kévin Augustin turned the game in the visitors favour once again.
The home side though once again showed their mental strength to progress to the semi-finals after goals from Dimitri Payet and Hiroki Sakai sent the Les Olympiens through at the expense of Leipzig, who saw the end of their debut season in Europe come to an end.
Three goals in the opening nine minutes at the Stade Velodrome
The game at the Stade Vélodrome didn't take long to get going as the visitors struck in the second minute of the game after a good passing move ended with Augustin giving the ball to Bruma, who smashed a right-footed shot into the back of the net to give the Red Bulls a crucial away goal in the tie.
After conceding so early in the game, it was important to see a strong response from the home side and that is exactly what they did as they scored two goals in the space of three minutes.
The first goal they got was a bit scrappy as from a corner kick, Konstantinos Mitroglou saw his header saved by Péter Gulácsi from close range but the ball rebounded back into the goal by the unfortunate Illsanker, who knew nothing about it.
The second goal was brilliant as the hosts hit the visitors with a brilliant counter attack with Payet playing a splendid through pass to Morgan Sanson, who saw two goalbound efforts saved by Gulácsi but Sarr was their to put the ball into the back of the net at the third time of asking.
Their was too be even more drama in the opening 20 minutes of the game as Payet thought he had scored the third for the hosts when his brilliant left footed strike from outside the box flew into the top corner but referee Björn Kuipers ruled the goal out as Mitroglou had commited a foul on Illsanker in the build up to the goal.
After the frantic start to the game, it slowed down immensely for the next 15 minutes as both teams needed time to try and catch their breathes back.
Thauvin added a third for Les Olympiens to turn tie in their favour
It was only for a brief period though as the home side did get a third goal eight minutes before half-time when a great free-kick from Payet found Thauvin in the box and the in-form winger volleyed the ball home with his right foot to give his side the lead in the tie for the first time.
Their wasn't any other chances before half-time for either side but that wouldn't have been a problem to the hosts as they had done all the hard work that they needed to in order to get their noses in front in the tie, while the visitors knew they had to score again the second half or they were heading out of the competition.
You wouldn't have thought that though at the start of the second half as it was the hosts who almost made it 4-2 but once again Gulácsi made two stunning saves to deny Mitroglou and Jordan Amavi.
Augustin scored a second away goal for the visitors to leave Marseille in trouble
These saves were crucial as only moments later, Leipzig went down the other end made it 3-2 when a brilliant run and back heel flick from Naby Keita found Augustin on the edge of the box and striker brilliantly curled home to put the Red Bulls back in the driving seat with another crucial away goal.
Payet's brilliance and Sakai's late strike seal progress to the semi-finals for Les Olympiens
As they did in the first half though the hosts responded brilliantly and they restored their two-goal advantage in the game when Thauvin gave the ball to Payet a long way out and the winger ran past a number of defenders before curling the ball into the top corner of the net to send the Stade Veleodrome in pandemonium.
After making it 4-2, Rudi Garcia made some tactical changes to his side as they became more solid and wanted to sit and protect what they had and they did that brilliantly for the rest of the second half.
They even had time to score a fifth goal in the final minute of injury time when on the counter attack and with Gulácsi out of his goal, Sakai received the ball from Maxime Lopez and the defender calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to send the French side into the Europa League semi-finals.