RB Leipzig 1-0 Marseille: Timo Werner gives Bundesliga side slim advantage in Europa League quarter-final

RB Leipzig beat Marseille 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final

Match-winner Timo Werner hit his 20th goal of the season for club and country

His goal came after Bouna Sarr had rattled Leipzig's crossbar at the other end

Timo Werner pounced in first-half injury time as RB Leipzig edged the first leg of their quarter-final against Marseille.

The Germany international, who scored twice against Napoli and once against Zenit St Petersburg in the previous rounds, came up with the goods again at the Red Bull Arena.

Marseille had enough sights of goal to come away with something but lacked Werner's composure and came closest when Bouna Sarr's effort struck the crossbar. 

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Timo Werner hit his 20th goal of the season for club and country to hand RB Leipzig a 1-0 win

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The narrow win over Marseille gave Leipzig an advantage in their Europa League quarter-final

Marseille forced the first save of the night, Peter Gulacsi up to task after visiting captain Dimitri Payet neatly picked out Kostas Mitroglou.

Leipzig continued to soak up half-chances, Morgan Sanson and Andre Anguissa both shooting off target while Konrad Laimer picked up an early booking for stopping Lucas Ocampos in his tracks.

MATCH FACTS 

RB Leipzig: Gulacsi, Laimer (Bernardo 74), Konate, Upamecano, Klostermann, Forsberg (Sabitzer 83), Demme, Keita, Bruma, Augustin (Kampl 70), Werner

Subs not used: Poulsen, Schmitz, Kaiser, Mvogo,

Booked: Laimer

Goal: Werner 45

Marseille: Pele, Sakai, Kamara, Gustavo, Amavi, Sanson, Anguissa, Sarr, Payet (Lopez 86), Ocampos, Mitroglou (Germain 80) 

Subs not used: Bedimo, Abdennour, N'Jie, Sertic, Escales

Booked: Kamara, Sarr 

The hosts began to exert pressure of their own, Naby Keita's powerful shot blocked by Boubacar Kamara and the lively Emile Forsberg seeing his teasing cross headed over by Ibrahima Konate.

Marseille came within a whisker of taking the lead in the 42nd minute, Sarr hitting the woodwork with a scrappy volley from Mitroglou's knockdown, only to find themselves behind at the break.

Gulacsi played his part by denying Sarr and Ocampos with a sharp double save, paving the way for an incisive counter-attack which went through Forsberg and ended with Werner drifting inside and slamming home left-footed.

The Ligue 1 outfit had two big chances early in the second half and will feel at least one should have levelled the scores.

First Ocampos failed to find a finish worthy of Anguissa's instinctive back-heel, then Payet blazed over having cut into the penalty area.

Leipzig were forced to rejig their defence when Laimer pulled up but could have extended their lead with 13 minutes left.

Werner again found himself at the sharp end, but this time his effort was blocked by Luiz Gustavo.

Leipzig full-back Lukas Klostermann ensured his side would take an advantage to France next week, reading the play impeccably in added time to snuff out a two-on-one attack from Marseille.

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Werner's goal came shortly after Bouna Sarr had rattled Leipzig's crossbar at the other end