The Gauls were almost always more ambitious and took more risks, while the Lisboners played on expectation.
Roger Schmidt once again failed miserably in his strategy, he misread the game when he had to make substitutions - Neres' departure in the 61st minute, when he was the most inspired cog in the attack, is symptomatic and mirrors much of what the Luz team has been about this season.
With 11 minutes to go, Moumbagna leveled the tie.
The Portuguese team were wasteful when it came to finishing and from the 11-meter mark they had the maximum punishment: their opponents didn't falter and were 100% effective in their four attempts and Di María (at the far post) and António Silva (saved by Pau López) opened the way to the semi-finals, where the French will face Atalanta.
This was the third season in a row that the "Eagles" had fallen in the quarter-finals of European competitions.
Roger Schmidt stuck with the eleven he has rotated the most in recent weeks and which had already started the first leg.
The "Eagles" didn't shy away from the "cauldron" of the Vélodrome and Neres gave the first warning, but Tengstedt unintentionally stopped his teammate's shot.
Marseille felt the touch and began to take the reins of the match: Trubin stretched out to save a shot from Ndiaye, Mbemba miscalibrated his aim - on the only clear-cut chance of the first period - and in reply Rafa narrowly missed the opener.
With the usual problems in the defensive process, Benfica conceded too much space to the Gauls, almost never pressing the ball carrier.
Neres even helped Aursnes down the left flank, something that Di María, Rafa and Tengstedt didn't do - which made the task of conditioning and bypassing the opposing block more difficult, but despite this, they managed to hold on to their slender lead in the tie.
Jordan Veretout stood out with two shots, a flagrant chance created, five progressive passes, nine losses of the ball, 46 actions with the ball and a GoalPoint Rating of 6.0. On the Benfica side, Neres had the best rating: a GoalPoint Rating of 5.8.
The Gauls increased their intensity, while the Portuguese continued to wait and react little, the minutes went by and the match became a scrappy affair, with danger lurking in both areas, especially the Portuguese one.
In the 61st minute, João Mário and Kökçü were brought on in place of Tengstedt and David Neres, who was proving to be the most unbalanced and inspired member of the national champions' attacking quartet.
Benfica didn't get any better with the substitutions, they still couldn't keep the ball securely and opened up a crater down the right flank, with Bah not having the help of Di María, forcing João Neves to come on unassisted, leaving the central flank "just" for Florentino.
When in the 79th minute Moumbagna opened the scoring and leveled the tie, Marseille were already justifying their goal.
The Eagles woke up and saw Kökcü and Di María come close to scoring. The match went on to extra time...
David Neres was the best player over the course of the 90 minutes, despite being substituted in the 61st minute. The Brazilian finished the match with one shot, one clear-cut chance, 5 progressive passes, 2 super-progressive passes, 5 recoveries of possession, 7 losses, one card won and a GoalPoint Rating of 7.2.
The first 15 minutes of extra time passed in a flash and were marked by two dangerous moments, one in each of the two areas: Di María missed a clear-cut chance in the 97th minute and Aubameyang almost scored an anthology goal in response.
Fatigue began to take hold of both teams, especially Marseille. With everything tied up, the verdict on who would be the last semi-finalist would be deciphered from the 11-meter mark...
Di María missed his first attempt, Correa scored, Kökçü converted his attempt, Geoffrey Kondogbia didn't flinch, Otamendi gave the Reds hope, Balerdi shot wide, Pau López stopped António Silva's shot and Luis Henrique put OM on course for the semi-finals.
Another blow for Benfica in a season of many mistakes.
Best on the pitch
Spanish goalkeeper Pau López was huge in the French goal and closed out the match with five saves - he prevented 1.2 goals (saves - xSaves) - in the 11-meter shootout he saved António Silva's penalty and was also 73% effective with his passing. He was the MVP with a GoalPoint Rating of 8.7.