Sevilla’s treble hopes alive after shoot-out win
Sevilla’s players celebrate after winning the UEFA Europa League quarter finals first leg football match Athletic Club Bilbao vs Sevilla FC at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao on April 7, 2016. AFP
Sevilla maintained their quest to win a third straight Europa League crown by ousting fellow Spaniards Athletic Bilbao on penalties on Thursday.
Sevilla joined Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk and fellow La Liga outfit Villarreal in the semi-finals despite losing 2-1 at home.
That made it a 3-3 tie on aggregate and after extra-time provided no more goals, the game went to penalties.
Frenchman Kevin Gameiro scored the decisive spot-kick after Benat had his kick for Athletic saved by goalkeeper David Soria.
Gameiro had also scored in normal time either side of strikes from Aritz Aduriz and Raul Garcia for Athletic.
The tie of the round came in England where Liverpool hit back from 2-0 and 3-1 down to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 and progress 5-4 on aggregate.
Playing against his former side, Jurgen Klopp’s team trailed to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Divock Origi pulled a goal back before Marco Reus restored the Germans’ two-goal advantage.
Liverpool needed three goals to progress due to the away goals rule and Dejan Lovren pounced to head home the injury-time winner after Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho had drawn the hosts level on the night.
Villarreal striker Cedric Bakambu continued his sublime form with two more goals in a 4-2 win over Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic to complete a 6-3 aggregate victory.
Shakhtar, the 2009 UEFA Cup champions, also powered into the last four with a 4-0 thrashing of Braga in Lviv. Darijo Srna converted a first-half penalty before Ricardo Ferreira twice put through his own net either side of a Viktor Kovalenko strike as the Ukrainians strolled through 6-1 on aggregate.
