Sevilla 0-0 Juventus (1-1 agg)
11 min: Juventus are coming back into it. Gatti is unmarked in Sevilla’s penalty box, but the Juve defender can only power his header straight at Bounou. Should have done better!
Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Roma (0-1 agg)
9 min: Diaby crashes a shot off the bar for Leverkusen! The Frenchman is so quick, and he bursts through on goal, leaving Ibanez for dead. Diaby takes the shot early, even from a wide angle, taking Patricio by surprise. The ball pings off the crossbar and away from danger. Very close to being an outrageous strike. Hard to be critical here, but could have have taken another touch, or cut inside?
Sevilla 0-0 Juventus (1-1 agg)
7 min: It’s a similar story in Seville. The home side have all of the ball, Juventus can’t get a kick. Navas is being given the freedom of the right wing to put cross after cross into the box.
AZ 0-0 West Ham (1-2 agg)
5 min: AZ have started really well, stroking it about. West Ham are set up to play on the counter-attack.
Sevilla 0-0 Juventus (1-1 agg)
2 min: Huge mistake from Cuadrado! He falls over the ball in his own box, Rakitic pounces, drives to the byline but can’t find a Sevilla man with his cutback.
Peeeeeeep! And we’re off in all four matches
The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium is a sea of red in Seville in support of the home side. Juventus are wearing a pink and blue away kit, a sort of Crystal Palace knock-off.
Coveted after Morrocco’s fine run at the World Cup, Sofyan Amrabat will be at the heart of Fiorentina’s midfield tonight alongside the vastly experienced Giacomo Bonaventura, who scored and was sent off in the win over Udinese at the weekend. Interesting that Jonathan Ikoné doesn’t start. He’s normally a menace down the right flank but has to make do with a place on the bench.
I enjoyed this interview with AZ’s manager, Pascal Jansen.
There are some familiar names in the AZ team. Jordy Clasie, formerly of Southampton, and Mat Ryan (formerly of Brighton and briefly Arsenal). But keep your eyes out for Milos Kerkez, the marauding Hungarian left back. He’s quite a talent and should keep Jarrod Bowen busy.
Islington-born Samuel Iling-Junior starts for Juve, keeping Enrico Chiesa out of the side. He looked very lively when he came on during the first leg against Sevilla, and is making a big impression in Turin – the 20-year-old scored his first Serie A goal earlier this month at Atalanta.
The boy is a bit special.
Team news
Sevilla v Juventus
Sevilla: Bounou, Jesus Navas, Bade, Gudelj, Acuna, Fernando, Rakitic, Ocampos, Torres, Gil Salvatierra, En-Nesyri.
Subs: Dmitrovic, Montiel, Alex Telles, Rekik, Suso, Mir, Lamela, Gomez, Flores, Hormigo, Bueno.
Juventus: Szczesny, Danilo, Locatelli, Gatti, Cuadrado, Iling-Junior, Fagioli, Rabiot, Bremer, Di Maria, Kean.
Subs: Chiesa, Vlahovic, Alex Sandro, Milik, Kostic, Miretti, Pinsoglio, Rugani, Paredes, Perin, Barbieri.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Holland)
Bayer Leverkusen v Roma
Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie, Frimpong, Demirbay, Palacios, Bakker, Diaby, Wirtz, Azmoun.
Subs: Amiri, Hudson-Odoi, Adli, Hlozek, Fosu-Mensah, Pentz, Azhil, Lomb,
Aourir.
Roma: Rui Patricio, Mancini, Cristante, Ibanez, Celik, Bove, Matic, Pellegrini, Spinazzola, Belotti, Abraham.
Subs: Karsdorp, Smalling, Camara, Dybala, Wijnaldum, Missori, Zalewski, Volpato, Boer, Tahirovic, El Shaarawy, Svilar.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
AZ v West Ham
AZ: Ryan, Sugawara, Beukema, Chatzidiakos, Kerkez, Reijnders, Mijnans, Clasie, van Brederode, Pavlidis, Karlsson.
Subs: Dani de Wit, Verhulst, Mihailovic, Lahdo, Bazoer, Vanheusden, Buurmeester, Mees de Wit, Meerdink, Goes, Deen.
West Ham: Areola, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Lucas Paqueta, Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma.
Subs: Fabianski, Johnson, Coufal, Fornals, Lanzini, Downes, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Emerson Palmieri, Anang, Mubama.
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia)
Basel v Fiorentina
Basel: Hitz, Lang, Nuhu, Pelmard, Ndoye, Xhaka, Burger, Calafiori, Augustin, Amdouni, Diouf.
Subs: Millar, Salvi, Fink, De Mol, Zeqiri, Essiam, Males, Frei, Vogel, Kade, Novoa.
Fiorentina: Terracciano, Dodo, Milenkovic, Igor, Biraghi, Bonaventura, Amrabat, Castrovilli, Gonzalez, Arthur Cabral, Brekalo.
Subs: Jovic, Saponara, Ikone, Ranieri, Venuti, Martinez, Cerofolini, Duncan, Sottil, Mandragora, Barak, Kouame.
Referee: Jose Sanchez Martinez (Spain)
Preamble
Oh, football. You do spoil us. Two night of European drama already this week, and now we have four bumper European ties. A bit of everything in here, from fallen giants to resurgent underdogs, with even a bit of British interest thrown in for good measure.
Sevilla v Juventus remains the tie of the night. Tied at 1-1 from the first leg, the Spanish side will be kicking themselves that they were not able to close out a win in Turin, as Federico Gatti scored with a header seven minutes into added time to earn a draw. Sevilla, winners of this competition on 794 occasions, should have been out of sight, really, but Juve rallied late on, and an assist from Paul Pogba (sadly injured again for tonight) to set up Gatti leaves this tie on a knife-edge.
In tonight’s other Europa League semi-final, José Mourinho (Roma) holds a narrow advantage over Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen) after Bove struck at the Stadio Olympico. Bayer Leverkusen are looking to reach their first European final since the 2002 Champions League final, and will have some job halting Mourinho, who remains on course for back-to-back European titles after last year’s Conference success.
Speaking of the Conference League, here come the Hammers. West Ham came from behind to beat AZ in east London, with Michail Antonio bundling the ball over the line with 15 minutes left to comple the turnaround. But the star of the night was undoubtedly this chap, who must be about eight years old, going on 40. I haven’t been able to get ‘Alphabet FC’ out of my head all week.
Basel v Fiorentina completes our line-up. A stoppage-time goal from Zeki Amdouni earned the Swiss a 2-1 win, but hopes are high in Florence, with Viola hitting some form in the second half of the season.
Team news shortly, kick-offs at 8pm BST.
