Valencia, Sevilla produce impressive Europa League fightbacks

Madrid, April 11 (IANS) Spanish sides Sevilla and Valencia booked their places in the last four of the Europa League with impressive fightbacks from first leg defeats.

Sevilla progressed to the semi-finals thanks to a convincing 4-1 win at home to Portuguese club Porto Thursday night, reports Xinhua.

Trailing 0-1 from the first leg, the Spanish side produced a convincing display and even the red card shown to Jorge Andujar Moreno (Coke) early in the second half did little to derail their performance in front of a packed Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Igor Rakitic levelled the tie as early as the fifth minute from the penalty spot and further goals from Vitolo and Carlos Bacca before the half hour put Sevilla on course to qualify.

Coke’s sending off saw Unai Emery’s side adopt a more conservative approach, but Kevin Gameiro added a fourth with 12 minutes remaining and although Ricardo Queresma scored for Porto in injury time, his goal was largely academic on a magnificent night for the Spanish side who qualified 4-2 on aggregate.

Valencia’s performance was even more impressive as Paco Alcazar scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 win over FC Basel.

Valencia had looked out of the tournament a week ago after a 0-3 defeat in Switzerland, but in the return match Alcazar scored the first goal of the game after 37 minutes to give Valencia hope and four minutes later Javi Varas’ header meant the fightback was a reality.

Alcazar again showed his instincts in netting Valencia’s third goal with 20 minutes remaining to take the tie into extra time.

The first period of extra time then saw Basel find themselves down to nine men as Miguel Diaz was shown a straight red card and Gaston Sauro was shown a second yellow.

Against nine men and with tired legs a major factor Alcazar scored his third of the night with seven minutes remaining and Juan Bernat made qualification a certainty just two minutes from the end of extra time to cap one of the best fightbacks in the history of the Europa League.