Tonight sees an all-Spanish semi-final in the Europa League between Sevilla and Valencia. Sevilla will start as favourites as they are currently three places above Valencia in the league but anything can happen in a cup tie and Valencia have had the better of the Andalucians in this seasons league meetings.
In September Valencia picked up a 3-1 win at the Mestalla. Jonas gave Valencia a first half lead before Kevin Gameiro levelled early in the second half. Valencia weren't to be denied though with Jonas scoring his second of the game before substitute, Victor Ruiz sealed the victory. In the return fixture Valencia held on for a 0-0 draw despite playing most of the second half with ten men after Ricardo Costa was sent off. Sevilla's Ivan Rakitic saw his penalty saved by Valencia goalkeeper, Diego Alves before Sevilla were reduced to ten men when Denis Cheryshev saw red in stoppage time at the end of the game.
Sevilla started off their route to the semi-final back in August when they overcame Mladost Podgorica of Montenegro 9-1 on aggregate. Next up was another 9-1 aggregate win over Slask Wroclaw of Poland. That saw Sevilla into the group stages where they went undefeated and finished top of the group ahead of Slovan Liberec, Freiburg and Estoril. Onto the knockout rounds and Sevilla got past Maribor of Slovenia 4-3 on aggregate. Next up was a derby against city rivals, Real Betis. Sevilla lost the first leg 2-0 in front of their home fans but a 2-0 win in the second leg saw the tie go to penalties. The shootout started badly for Sevilla when Vitolo missed but Coke, Kevin Gameiro, Alberto Moreno and Ivan Rakitic all scored and Alfred N'Diaye and Nono missed for Betis which saw them into the quarter-finals and a tie with Porto. The first leg was lost 1-0 in Portugal but Sevilla got off to a flyer in the second leg taking a 3-0 lead inside the first thirty minutes. Coke was sent off in the second half but Sevilla held on and ran out 4-1 winners to reach the semi-finals.
Valencia didn't have to go through the qualifying rounds and started their campaign in the group stages. They got off to the worst possible start losing 3-0 to Swansea City at the Mestalla but they responded well, winning four in a row and drawing their final game to top the group ahead of Swansea, Kuban Krasnodar and St Gallen. In the first knockout round they overcame Dynamo Kiev 2-0 on aggregate courtesy of a 2-0 win in the "away" leg. That game was played in Cyprus due to the ongoing civil unrest in Ukraine. A straight forward 4-0 aggregate win over Ludogorets set up a quarter-final with Basel. The first leg was played behind closed doors after crowd trouble at the Swiss sides previous game but it was Valencia who seemed to be more affected by the unique atmosphere, losing 3-0. At that point most neutrals believed Valencia were heading toward elimination but they managed to overturn the odds and with the score at 3-0 after ninety minutes the game went into extra time. Basel lost their discipline in the extra thirty minutes and had two men sent off before Valencia scored twice in the last seven minutes to complete one of the best ever European comebacks and earn a semi-final place.
Sevilla will be without Coke who is suspended after being sent off against Porto. Sebastian Cristoforo and Denis Cheryshev will also miss the game due to injury and there are also questions over the availibility of highly rated fullback Alberto Moreno. Sevilla's hopes will rest largely on their goalscoring trio Kevin Gameiro, Carlos Bacca and Ivan Rakitic. Gameiro has five Europa League goals this season and if selected will carry a threat alongside Bacca and Rakitic. The trio have scored forty league goals between them this season (Bacca 14, Gameiro 14 and Rakitic 12). With those three involved Sevilla can always get a goal and they will also be expecting big things from their star defender Federico Fazio who has been superb at centre back.
Valencia aren't without their own injury problems and will be without Ricardo Costa and Victor Ruiz. There are also doubts over Diego Alves and Phillippe Senderos. Valencia's goal threat will come from Paco Alcacar who has scored seven goals in this years Europa League, just one behind current top scorer, Jonatan Soriano of Salzburg. Valencia will be hoping for a good performance from their own stars, most notably Daniel Parejo who has been excellent in midfield and Jonas who has notched ten league goals.
Most first legs in European competitions can be cagey affairs as teams look to see what the other is capable of but these two sides see plenty of each other and will undoubtedly know each others strengths and weaknesses. They both have good pedigree in this competition with three wins between them in the last decade and regardless of who ends up in next months final in Turin you can be guaranteed La Liga will be well represented and both sides willl give it their all to ensure that the Europa League trophy returns to Spain for the sixth time in eleven seasons.