Following the draw for the Europa League semi-finals, Ian Hawkey breaks down each tie and predicts which clubs will reach the final.
Villarreal v Liverpool
Liverpool’s journey to what they hope will be a third European final this millennium is coloured in brilliant yellow. The heroics of Thursday night at Anfield, when they recovered from two goals — effectively three, with the away goals rule — down with barely half an hour left against a buzzing Borussia Dortmund in their yellow-and-black strip, now leads them to the home of the Yellow Submarine, as Villarreal’s supporters call their club.
Colours apart, Villarreal are unlike Dortmund. They are Spain’s rural minnows, from a small town. But they have put together a season strong enough to be in the top four in the Primera Liga and in the last four in the Europa League, thanks in part to a miserly defence, meaner than Barcelona’s or Real Madrid’s. They are not the type of team to ship three goals in 25 minutes, as Dortmund did, however rousing the second leg atmosphere on Merseyside.
Forecast: Villarreal to keep their cool and make their first ever major European final.
Related:
Uefa Champions League: Man City v Real Madrid, Atletico v Bayern: Breaking down the semi-final draw
Poll: Of the four semi-finalists, who will win the Europa League title?
Comment: Jurgen Klopp's 'Merseyside Miracle' has Liverpool players and fans full of belief
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla
For followers of Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk is a resonant name. The Ukrainian club are sewn into the unique fabric that is Sevilla’s long relationship with European club football’s secondary club tournament. Back in 2007, the clubs contested a tight, tense quarter-final in the Uefa Cup, as the Europa League was then known. It was so tense that the Sevilla goalkeeper, Andres Palop, went upfield for one of his team’s late corners. He scored, to take the tie into extra-time.
Sevilla went on to win that Cup for the second year on the trot. They are now 270 minutes from winning a third successive Europa League, but 90 of those minutes are far away in Ukraine, against another former Uefa Cup winner. The city of Donetsk, so wounded by recent conflicts, could use another big final like that to lift spirits.
Forecast: Sevilla to edge through, and maintain their long love-affair with Europa League finals.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
