Cheyrou feels his side's meetings with Real Madrid and AC Milan in the Champions League group stage earlier this season will stand the Ligue 1 side in good stead in Lisbon. Both sides recorded emphatic aggregate wins in the last round, Benfica brushing aside Hertha Berlin 5-1 and OM hammering FC Copenhagen 6-2. "We are ready," Cheyrou said on Marseille's official website. "We have proved it since the beginning of the season. "We have played big European matches in the Champions League against Milan and Real. "We are ready to confront Benfica and we are especially impatient to be there." Marseille failed to win any of their four matches against Madrid and Milan, drawing one and losing the other three. Another Marseille man, Lucho Gonzalez, will be more familiar than most with tomorrow's opponents, having played until last summer for their Liga rivals Porto. And the Argentinian feels the two teams are very closely matched. "These two matches will probably be very closely contested as the difference in the level between OM and Benfica is not very big," he said. "It will be a nice match because both teams play a in quite a similar way by going forward a lot. It will be necessary to be very attentive to bring back a positive result." Oscar Cardozo scored twice for Benfica in their 4-0 second-leg win over Hertha, but knows the French side are likely to pose a tougher test than a side lying bottom of the Bundesliga. "I know that Marseille have good players, especially Lucho," he said in the Correio da Manha newspaper. "They are a very strong team. It will be a very tough match." Benfica have been boosted, though, by the news that Brazil international Ramires and Argentinian Pablo Aimar are likely to be fit. Marseille will be without Aimar's countryman Gabriel Heinze, who is likely to be out for at least another fortnight with a hamstring injury.
