Summary: Olympiakos - Fenerbahce 2:3/Sport1
Not only in the Champions League there are big dramas. The first two qualifiers for the semi-finals of the Conference League were decided tonight (Thursday) only after extra time, when Aston Villa needed a penalty shootout starring Emiliano Martins to get past Lille and Fiorentina did it with 0:2 in extra time against Viktoria Plzen. Two more free tickets left.
Semi-finals (May 2 and 9):
Aston Villa - Olympiakos / Fenerbahce
Fiorentina - Club Brugge / PAUK Thessaloniki
Lille - Aston Villa 4:3 on penalties (3:3 on aggregate)
"The man hated in France" once again made the French cry. Lille fans marked Emiliano Martinez from the first moment with curses, boos and even an attempt to enter the field, but in the end the Argentine world champion had the last laugh, and again after a penalty shootout. Martins stopped Nabil Bentaleb's kick and then taunted the crowd and even received a second yellow. Luckily for him, the law states that a goalkeeper cannot be sent off during penalties and so he stayed on the field even to stop Benjamin Andre's decisive penalty and send Aston Villa to their first European semi-final since winning the Champions League in 1982.
Lille made it 2:1 at Villa Park in the 84th minute and continued this enthusiasm in the opener in front of the home crowd, with a precise left-footed shot by Yusuf Yaziji into the net of Martins, who as mentioned received curses and scorn throughout the match from the French crowd. Captain Andre hit the second in the 68th minute and at that moment Lille already smelled a historic semi-final, but three minutes before the end of legal time, goalkeeper Luca Shavalia made an uncomplicated lift, ran into his friend Nabil Bentaleb, dropped the ball and on the second attempt it was defender Matty Cash who shot in from - 16 meters. The claims of the Lille players for a foul by John Duran, who supposedly pushed Bentaleb on the goalkeeper and caused the omission, were of no use and the VAR also confirmed the goal that sent the match to overtime. Chevalier redeemed himself in the 100th minute when he deflected a dangerous kick from Leon Bailey and then, being on the grass, managed to react in time to Douglas Luiz's shot and provided a huge save. He also prevented a goal in the 120th minute and stopped one Bailey penalty, but the duel was all about the opponent from Argentina.
Fiorentina - Viktoria Plzen 0:2 in overtime (0:2 on aggregate)
As against Maccabi Haifa, this time too the Purples did not impress but managed to get the ticket to the semi-finals of the Conference League for the second year in a row. Fiorentina lost last year's final to West Ham in the 90th minute and will hope for a different fate in 2024. Viktoria Pelzen, who dreamed of a first European semi-final in its history, was only concerned with defense and also enjoyed a lot of luck with shots and misses, until in the 66th minute Cado stepped hard on Dodo's ankle and saw a red. Even with 10 players, the Czechs held on and dragged the game into extra time, but in the 92nd minute, Nicolas Gonzalez took control of a corner kick inside the box and defeated the goalkeeper who only touched the ball on his way to the connections. Fiorentina continued to attack and in their 32nd attempt of the game, captain Cristiano Biraghi fired in to seal the deal in the 108th minute.
Fenerbahce - Olympiakos (22:00, 3:2 in the first match)
If in the round of 16 Olympiakos was defeated at home 4:1 and managed to qualify with a tremendous 1:6 in the second leg in Serbia against Maccabi Tel Aviv, now she fears that the turnaround will be at her expense. In Piraeus, the Greeks won 2:3, but the Turks in six minutes in the second half reduced it to 3:2 and are now the favorites to qualify for the next stage. Daniel Fodens will return to Jose Luis Mandiliver's 11 after he was absent due to accumulation of yellows last week and separately, the Greeks will hope for output from Ayub El Keabi who was well kept in the first game, but the defense will miss the yellowed Panaiotis Rezos. At Fenerbahçe Batshuayi may start, who has recovered from a minor injury due to which he sat on the bench in the previous match and did not participate. The winner will face the winner between Aston Villa and Lille in the semi-finals.
PAUK Thessaloniki - Club Brugge (22:00, 1:0 in the first match)
The conference league final will be held this year in Athens and Olympiakos is not the only Greek representative that hopes to find itself in the coveted position. Last week, they conceded a quick goal in Belgium, but avoided another conceding and lost only 1:0, so the decision went to the Tomba Stadium, which will be filled to capacity and the fans are expected to provide an extraordinary atmosphere in the field where the team did not lose throughout the season in all formats, until three consecutive losses came in the arena the local in February and March. In Europe, they crushed Dinamo Zagreb 1:5 in the home game in the previous round and thus imitated the 2:0 loss a week before in Croatia. Like Pauk, Bruges is competing for the championship in its country at the same time and unlike Pauk, it played in the league this week, beating Antwerp 3:0 and on Sunday it will be hosted by Union Saint-Gilleois for a game that could finally take it out of the race.