Europa League 2018: Qualified Teams After Thursday's Quarter-Final Leg 2 Results

Marseille and Red Bull Salzburg each came out on the winning side of incredible quarter-final comebacks against RB Leipzig and Lazio, respectively, to advance to the last four of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.

They join Atletico Madrid and Arsenal in the semi-finals of the competition, with Sporting Lisbon losing 2-1 to Los Rojiblancos on aggregate despite winning the second leg, while the Gunners drew 2-2 at CSKA Moscow to win 6-3 across both legs.

Leipzig took a 1-0 lead to the Stade Velodrome but surrendered 5-2 on the night as Marseille turned on the flair to advance. Dimitri Payet assisted Florian Thauvin before netting a sumptuous goal of his own as part of the onslaught.

Lazio looked like probable semi-finalists after beating Salzburg 4-3 in Italy, but a late spree of three goals in four minute saw the Austrian hosts turn the tide, sealing a historic 6-5 aggregate victory after triumphing 4-1 in the second leg.

Read on for a round of Thursday's results as this season's semi-finalists were decided in grand fashion.

Thursday's Results (Aggregate)

CSKA Moscow 2-2 Arsenal (3-6)

Marseille 5-2 RB Leipzig (5-3)

Red Bull Salzburg 4-1 Lazio (6-5)

Sporting CP 1-0 Atletico Madrid (1-2)

Europa League Semi-Finalists

Atletico Madrid

Arsenal

Marseille

Lazio

Recap

Three goals in the first nine minutes of Marseille's clash with their German guests set the tone for a whirlwind second leg, where the landscape constantly changed as to who would advance following Leipzig's 1-0 first-leg win.

Already trailing 1-0 from their defeat in Germany, Marseille's night got off to a woeful start when Bruma doubled the deficit inside two minutes, only for Stefan Ilsanker to force the ball into his own net from a corner shortly after.

The Stade Velodrome erupted when Bouna Sarr finished off a cutting counter-attack aided by a beautifully crossed through ball from Payet. Leipzig would still advance on away goals as it stood, but Thauvin improved his prolific record this season before the break as he tapped in from a free-kick, per WhoScored.com:

Naby Keita advanced and held up three Marseille defenders to tee up Jean-Kevin Augustin for a sweetly curled finish, again putting Leipzig in the ascendancy by virtue of away goals at 3-2 down.

The best was saved for last, though as Payet exchanged a neat one-two with Thauvin on the hour mark. Striding inside the Leipzig box, he launched an unstoppable effort off the outside of his right boot and into Peter Gulacsi's top-left corner. Football writer Jack Lang was impressed, to say the least:

Salzburg and Lazio fell just short of their six-goal tally in Austria but nevertheless laid on an extravaganza, where the mood again waved back and forth on a night of Europa League surprises.

Immobile tied level with Athletic Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz as the top scorer in the Europa League this season with his 55th-minute opener at the Red Bull Arena, his eighth goal in the competition this season. The Italy international is also among world football's elite in overall scoring:

That strike put Lazio ahead 5-2 on aggregate, but their elation was short-lived as Munas Dabbur's deflected shot went in less than a minute later, meaning only two more goals were needed for Salzburg to advance.

Not satisfied with that quota, the hosts proceeded to score three times in four minutes through Amadou Haidara, Hwang Hee-Chan and Stefan Lainer, breaking a European drought in the process, per Gracenote Live:

They join Arsenal in the last four after the Gunners survived an audacious comeback attempt from Russian hosts CSKA Moscow, who went 2-0 ahead in the capital after Fedor Chalov and Kirill Nababkin scored either side of half-time.

Mohamed Elneny assisted for Welbeck to pull back a crucial away strike, and the Egyptian was on hand again to tee up Ramsey for an injury-time insurance goal as Squawka confirmed the end of a long Arsenal drought:

Sporting CP were unsuccessful in their attempts to sufficiently break down an Atletico Madrid team adamant on defending the 2-0 lead they took at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg.

Fredy Montero headed in his third goal in five Europa League games, and despite beating Atleti 17 to nine in shots at goal, per WhoScored.com, Los Rojiblancos' defensive stars showed the nous to outlast a chasing opponent.