Europa Conference League semi-finals: Basel and West Ham fight back for first-leg leads
Fiorentina 1 Basel 2
Basel produced a stunning comeback in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final, as they beat Fiorentina 2-1 in Italy. Andy Diouf’s superb solo goal set the Swiss side on their way to a famous win, leaving them within touching distance of a first ever European final.
La Viola were expected to dominate from the outset, but it was their visitors who had the best of the early chances, with Jean-Kevin Augustin even finding the back of the net early on, only for the strike to be ruled out for a marginal offside.
Pietro Terracciano then pulled off a terrific full-stretch save to prevent Diouf from finding the bottom corner, while Wouter Burger headed wide.
Eventually, Basel were made to pay for those missed opportunities as an unmarked Arthur Cabral bagged against his former club, registering a new outright-high seventh goal in the competition of the season by converting from close range.
Despite enjoying 62% of the possession in the first half, that was only Fiorentina’s second shot on target, as they struggled to create many meaningful openings against a belligerent Basel defence.
Things were much more even after the break, and Heiko Vogel’s side should have equalised when Burger nodded wide with a huge chance from a corner.
Rolando Mandragora and Jonathan Ikone then fired over at the other end, as both teams struggled to land shots on target until a tame effort from Mandragora from the edge of the box was easily saved.
Basel levelled with 20 minutes left when Diouf netted a screamer, playing a quick one-two before racing past several defenders en-route from the halfway line before converting with a low shot from the edge of the area.
And Zeki Amdouni made it 2-1 deep into added time, as he found the back of the net from close range after Fiorentina failed to deal with a ball into the box.
The result means the Swiss side have one leg in a dream final nobody ever game them a prayer of reaching, a decade after suffering semi-final heartbreak at the hands of Chelsea in the Europa League.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Andy Diouf (Basel)
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West Ham 2 AZ Alkmaar 1
West Ham United showed impressive resilience to recover from a goal down and beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1 in a UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final first leg, leaving De Kaasboeren with seven defeats from as many games on English soil.
There was a sizeable weight of expectation on the Hammers given the long 47-year wait since a side featuring Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking and Pat Holland last played a European final in the Cup Winners Cup.
With that in mind, David Moyes’ side started in measured fashion and looked for opportunities on the counter-attack against a possession-minded Alkmaar side.
They managed to create a couple of early chances though, as Jarrod Bowen headed over from Declan Rice’s cross before Mathew Ryan made an outstanding one-handed stop to push Said Benrahma’s shot around the post.
Pascal Jansen’s men were passing the ball around comfortably and hit the Hammers with a sucker-punch shortly before the break when Tijjani Reijnders’ long-range strike took an awkward bounce in front of Alphonse Areola and flew into the net.
West Ham’s players immediately surrounded referee Halil Umut Meler, protesting against Sam Beukema’s challenge on Lucas Paqueta in the build-up, but the goal stood.
The London Stadium crowd were growing increasingly restless after the break, with West Ham struggling to increase the intensity of their play.
Bowen looked to take matters into his own hands with an effort from outside the box which sailed wide of Ryan’s left-hand post.
The England international was involved in the thick of the action again, as the East Londoners were awarded a spot-kick after Ryan clattered into the winger as he failed to claim the ball in an aerial challenge.
Benrahma was arguably West Ham’s brightest spark on the night, and he rifled home the subsequent spot-kick into the side netting to level the score.
The equaliser proved to be the turning point, as Michail Antonio put the Hammers in front just nine minutes later after reacting quickest to a loose ball inside the box following on from Yukinari Sugawara’s excellent clearance off the line.
That was to be the Jamaica international’s final act, and he received a rapturous ovation before being replaced by Danny Ings.
That change nearly paid immediate dividends, as Ings played a give and go with Benrahma, but the Algerian could not find the target with his close-range effort.
Moyes’ side could not add to their tally, but the Scot can reflect on a productive night’s work and will treasure being able to take a valuable lead into next week’s second leg at the AFAS Stadion.
Meanwhile, this will feel like a missed opportunity for Jansen’s side, whose four-match unbeaten run in all competitions comes to an end.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Said Benrahma (West Ham United)