Spanish football underlined its dominance of continental competition
after Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid all advanced to the
Europa League semi-finals, with Portuguese side Sporting joining them in
the last four.
GettyImagesAdil Rami scored two in
two minutes to help Valencia overturn their first-leg deficit against AZ
Valencia
produced the night's most impressive display, overturning their one-goal
first-leg deficit to AZ with some style, thanks to a 4-0
victory at the Mestalla.
France centre-back Adil Rami netted
twice in two first-half minutes to put Los Che in control, and
further goals from Jordi Alba and Pablo Hernandez put the tie to bed, as
Unai Emery's side put last week's 2-1 defeat in Alkmaar firmly behind
them.
Valencia will take on fellow La Liga outfit Atletico
Madrid in the last four following their 2-1
victory in Hannover.
The Rojiblancos led 2-1
from the first leg and increased their advantage when Adrian pounced in
the 63rd minute. Former Manchester United striker Mame Biram Diouf
equalised for the hosts but in-form Falcao bagged late on to put the
2010 Europa League winners within two games of another final appearance.
Athletic Bilbao completed the trio of Spanish clubs
reaching the semi-finals, after they twice came from behind to draw
2-2 with Schalke and preserve their lead from the impressive
4-2 first-leg victory over the Bundesliga high-fliers.
Europa
League top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar opened the scoring for Schalke
with his 14th goal in 12 games in this season's competition, but a
wonderful curling effort from Ibai Gomez - an early substitute for Mikel
San Jose - levelled things up.
Raul restored Schalke's advantage
with a fine strike of his own, but Markel Susaeta hit back for the
hosts, who also have a Copa del Rey final against Barcelona to look
forward to this month.
Sporting await Athletic in the
semi-finals after they drew 1-1
with FC Metalist to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
Ricky van
Wolfswinkel put Sporting ahead and though Jonathan Cristaldo hit back in
Ukraine, the Portuguese side held on to give themselves a chance of
emulating Braga and Porto, who both ensured a Primeir
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