Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea have taken huge leaps towards European finals with their respective Thursday night wins.
The most impressive performance came from United, picking up a 3-0 Europa League semi-final first leg victory away at Athletic Bilbao.
Casemiro headed them in front with 30 minutes played before Dani Vivian was sent off for the hosts after pulling back Rasmus Hojlund.
Bruno Fernandes scored the subsequent penalty and added a third just before half-time to add further misery onto Bilbao.
In doing so, he now has seven goals in the Europa League this term – the most ever by a United player in a single edition of the tournament.
Meanwhile, he is also the first person in Europa League history to be directly involved in at least 30 goals in the knockout rounds having scored 19 and chipped in with 12 assists.
Such was United’s domination, they inflicted Bilbao’s joint-heaviest home defeat in any European competition.
Incredibly for United, they now boast more wins in Europe’s secondary competition [seven] under Ruben Amorim than they have in the Premier League [six].
United will now take their aggregate advantage back to Old Trafford and appear to already have one foot in the final.
In the other semi-final clash, Spurs beat Bodo/Glimt 3-1 to also gain a healthy advantage in the final four.
Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs with only 38 seconds played having headed in whilst unmarked at the back post.
Their second of the night came from James Maddison, with Dominic Solanke also finding the back of the net with a second half penalty.
Spurs were also in fine form on Thursday nightGetty RexMaddison was on target as Spurs beat their Norwegian opponents 3-1[/caption]Bodo restored some faith in the final ten minutes thanks to a deflected finish from Ulrik Saltnes.
But Spurs held on for what was a comfortable victory – stretching their unbeaten home run to 20 matches in Europe – including qualifiers.
It’s the longest ongoing unbeaten home run from any English side who have featured in Europe this term.
Spurs, whose Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has more capacity than the population of Bodo, make their away trip next Thursday.
As it stands, the Premier League rivals will meet in the Europa League final on May 21 in Bilbao, Spain.
It would be the first all-English final in the competition since Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in 2019.
GettyAnge Postecoglou knows his Tottenham job could depend on lifting the Europa League glory[/caption]Elsewhere, Chelsea continued their excellent debut Europa Conference League campaign by thrashing Djurgarden 4-1 in their semi-final first leg.
Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke put them two goals up before the break, with substitute Nicolas Jackson adding another double.
Djurgarden scored a consolation goal moments later in the 68th minute when Isak Alemayehu headed in for the Swedish side.
But they failed to add to their tally on what was their first European semi-final appearance.
While it was Jackson that scored twice, Enzo Fernandez yet again starred for the Blues.
The 2022 World Cup winner provided two assists – his fourth in his last three matches.
Chelsea scored four goals on the night for yet another European winGetty Sancho has now scored four goals since joining Chelsea on an initial loan last summerRexNo Chelsea player boasts more than his 12 assists in all competitions this campaign, with Fernandes being the only Premier League midfielder to provide more [15].
Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge next Thursday for the second leg – firmly in control of the tie.
And they look set to play either Real Betis or Fiorentina in the final in Wroclaw, Poland on May 28.
It is Betis who hold a slender advantage going into their second leg havin won 2-1 at the Benito Villamarin.
But they know they are up against a side who have reached the last two Conference League finals, where they have lost to West Ham and Olympiacos in the previous two years.
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