Europa League 2014/15 Winners and Losers from Quarter-Final Second Legs
Four teams remain alive in the chase for the UEFA Europa League crown after the quarter-final round concluded with the second legs on Thursday night.
Sevilla hit Zenit with an unlikely sucker punch to advance with a draw in Russia. Fiorentina and Napoli both moved on to give Italy two teams in the semi-finals. And Dnipro scored a late winner to see off Club Brugge after nearly 180 minutes of scoreless football.
Here are our choices for winners and losers from Thursday night's games.
Winner: Rafa Benitez
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Napoli manager Rafa Benitez earned a spot in our winners' column last week following his side's 4-1 demolition of Wolfsburg in Germany. This week, the Partenopei weren't quite as impressive in their 2-2 draw with the Bundesliga side, but they didn't have to be.
Thanks to second-half strikes from Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens, the final 20 minutes of the tie were completely inconsequential—if not before then. Timm Klose and Ivan Perisic pulled back a pair of goals for Wolfsburg in quick succession, but Napoli's 6-3 aggregate victory was never in real jeopardy.
With the win, Napoli move on to the semi-finals and one step closer to a trophy, while Benitez adds to his reputation as a cup specialist. If the Partenopei take home the trophy this spring, Benitez would become the first manager to win a major UEFA competition with four clubs, per Goal UK.
Benitez's contract with Napoli is set to expire in the summer, per ESPN FC, and although his tenure with the club has not been overwhelmingly positive, he will surely have no shortage of suitors no matter what he decides to do.
Losers: Zenit St. Petersburg
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The stage seemed set. After falling behind Sevilla to an early penalty, Zenit St. Petersburg had scored twice in the second half to pull even at 3-3 on aggregate and position themselves to knock out the holders.
Sevilla, for their part, were on the ropes. Goalkeeper Beto—more on him later—had made a pair of costly mistakes, and the visitors only rarely managed to venture out of their own half.
But when they did, it spelled the end for Zenit.
Breaking forward at pace following a Zenit set piece, Sevilla hit the hosts with a perfect counterpunch, knocking the Russian side out with Kevin Gameiro's unexpected 85th-minute goal. But while the goal served as a textbook example of fine counter play, the way Zenit conceded was far from ideal.
Leading 2-1 on the night and heading for extra time as it stood, Zenit were guilty of the one thing that couldn't happen—conceding on the counter. Andre Villas-Boas' side only had to see out regular time—while choosing their moments to attack—and they would have been firm favourites to go through, thanks to their second-half momentum.
Instead, a fine comeback amounted to nothing, and now Zenit are out.
Winner: Hulk
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His side crashed out in disappointing style, but Hulk scored a truly memorable goal from long distance to complete Zenit's second-half comeback.
Spotting Beto off his line in the 72nd minute, Hulk curled a beauty of a strike from the right flank onto the underside of the crossbar from fully 40 yards. Regardless of how the rest of the tournament plays out, Hulk's smash likely will go down as the Europa League's best strike this season.
And really, words are not quite enough in this case. See the goal in all its glory here.
Loser: Beto
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Beto ended up on the winning side as Sevilla drew 2-2 at Zenit and progressed to the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate victory. But the goalkeeper should not be proud of his performance.
With his side leading 1-0 early in the second half, Beto spilled a routine high ball into his box, allowing Jose Rondon to equalise. But the error-prone stopper wasn't finished.
In the 72nd minute, Beto ventured too far off his line and allowed another goal. Admittedly, this one was a wonder strike by Hulk (see the previous slide), but only Beto will know what he was doing so far off his line in that situation.
The reaction on Twitter was unanimous. "Flappiest of flappy goalkeepers," tweeted David Cartlidge of beIN Sports. "Beto shouldn't be allowed to board the plane home," joked writer Jamie Kemp.
It is true that Beto made a fine stop on another Hulk shot when the score was 2-1 and Zenit seemed destined to win, but with better goalkeeping earlier in the match, his side probably wouldn't have needed their late goal to advance.
Winner: Unai Emery
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In last week's first leg, Sevilla manager Unai Emery made all the right changes to spark a rally and secure a come-from-behind victory over Zenit on home soil.
In Thursday's second leg, he found the magic formula again.
In the 73rd minute, Emery introduced Kevin Gameiro for Carlos Bacca, who had scored Sevilla's first goal with a well-taken penalty. It might have seemed an odd choice to some, but Gameiro repaid his manager quickly, netting the winner 12 minutes after stepping onto the pitch with a classy, low finish following a quick counter.
"Kevin Gameiro is an absolute monster in front of goal," B/R's Andy Brassell tweeted. "One of the underrated finishers in Europe."
Much like in the first leg, Emery's choices late in the match won the game. As the final approaches, it's really no surprise Sevilla are still around. Sure, their defence has its issues, but Emery keeps making the right decisions at the right times.
Loser: Dynamo Kiev
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Dynamo Kiev crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday night following a 2-0 loss at Fiorentina, with the Italian side advancing 3-1 on aggregate.
Not only did Dynamo exit Europe, but the Ukrainian side also had a player sent off for the fourth time—two more than any other team in the Europa League this season, according to Opta Joe. Taking a more historical view yields a similar result, with Dynamo leading the way all time with nine red cards in the competition, per Infostrada Sports.
What's more, before the sending-off, Dynamo managed just two touches in Fiorentina's box in the first half, according to Opta Paolo. All in all, it added up to a night to forget for the Ukrainians.
Winner: Serie A
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Much was made of England's failure to send any teams into the quarter-finals of Europe's top two club competitions, the Champions League and Europa League. But perhaps another factoid, revealed Thursday night, is more instructive.
Of the eight teams left in those two tournaments, three hail from Italy: Juventus in the Champions League, and Fiorentina and Napoli in the Europa League. That's the same number as Spain, whose league is rightly considered one of the best in the world.
Some onlookers might not fancy Serie A compared to La Liga or the Premier League, but perhaps they should. With the end of the season approaching, Italian teams have a good chance to take home some continental silverware.
“We have reached a very important target, we gave our all to get here and now we will give everything to go all the way,” Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne told Sport Mediaset (h/t Football Italia). “We deserve it as a group, as we are so united. We hope to reach the final in Warsaw and win the trophy with this jersey."
Asked about the possibility of playing Fiorentina in the final, Insigne added, "It would be a great sign for Italian football if we both reached the final. I can promise we will give everything in every competition to go as far as possible for Napoli.”
The semi-final draw is scheduled for Friday in Nyon, Switzerland, per UEFA.com.
