Juve & Valencia narrow door to final

Sevilla blew the door wide open to the Europa League final with a 2-0 win over Valencia, while Juventus were beaten 2-1 by Benfica at the Da Luz Stadium with a late winner.

Tevez's goal gives Juve some hope for the second leg

SPECIFIC RESULTS

Benfica- Juventus: 2-1

Sevilla- Valencia: 2-0

Sevilla were able to celebrate after a dominant match against Valencia. The home team not only played more coherently, but also received the help of luck. In the 33rd minute, Stephane M'Bia put the ball into Valencia's net in an offside position, but the referee still recognized the goal. Not long after, the gap was doubled for Sevilla. This time Valencia had no reason to complain about the refereeing team, because the home players had a perfect attacking coordination, with Carlos Bacca scoring the second goal. During the remaining time of the match, the two teams created quite a few opportunities but no more goals were scored. With a 2-0 victory over Valencia in the first leg, Sevilla almost put one foot in the Europa League final.

In the other semi-final, Juventus felt the difficulty in their away match at Da Luz Stadium after only 3 minutes of play. From Miralem Sulejmani's corner kick, center-back Ezequiel Garay cleverly escaped the opponent's defense, jumped high and headed into the far corner, leaving goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon helpless.

This early goal gave Benfica confidence and initiative. Every time they had the ball, they pushed the pace up very quickly with the three strikers Miralem Sulejmani - Oscar Cardozo - Rodrigo always ready to approach the penalty area. Meanwhile, Juventus defended quite passively with a 3-man defense. Up front, the striker pair Mirko Vucinic - Carlos Tevez of the away team were also often separated. It was not until Sebastian Giovinco came on to replace Vucinic in the second half that Juventus's attack became brighter.

The Serie A champions got an equaliser shortly after, courtesy of a clever move from Carlos Tevez. However, in the final minutes of the game, Lima sealed a 2-1 win for Benfica with a thunderous strike. The result left the tie open for the second leg of the semi-final next week.

According to Bongdaplus