The UEFA Europa League semi-finals are well underway, with the competition this season reaching new heights of prestige and coverage that few football fans would have expected.
With the quality of the tournament growing and the entertainment value also growing substantiality, the Europa League is slowly shedding its skin as a second-rate competition and becoming its own thing that fans are beginning to enjoy.
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Yet a recent look back at the Europa League’s history, and you will find plenty of outstanding semi-final clashes, many of which include English clubs, and some that feature unlikely teams pulling off historic results that are not etched in folklore.
Middlesbrough pull off a Europa League semi-final classic
There’s probably a no better place to start than Middlesbrough’s incredible comeback win against Steaua Bucharest in 2006, when Steve McClaren’s side came from 3-0 down on aggregate to win 4-3 at the Riverside in one of Boro’s most famous results.
Trailing 2-0 after 25 minutes, Middlesbrough rallied together to produce four dramatic goals, with club icon Massimo Maccarone’s 89th-minute winner sending the entire area into raptures, and placing the North Yorkshire side into their first-ever European final, which they, unfortunately, lost to Sevilla.
Diego Forlan breaks Liverpool fans’ hearts
Liverpool once you used to be regulars in the Europa League, with Jurgen Klopp himself guiding the Reds to the final in the 2015/16 season, and even though the Merseyside club lost on that occasion, their loss to Atletico Madrid in 2010 could be considered even more heartbreaking.
Taking the game into extra-time at 1-1, Yossi Benayoun looked to have won the game for Liverpool with a goal in the 95th minute, however, legendary Atletico striker Diego Forlan had other ideas and bagged the away goal that the visitors needed to progress to the final in the remaining moments of the match, breaking the hearts of Liverpool supporters.
Fulham makes history against Hamburg
Middlesbrough making it to the Europa League final is one thing, but very few football fans would have predicted Fulham making a similar journey four years later, with the west London side eliminating some huge clubs along the way.
With Shakhtar Donetsk, Wolfsburg and famously Juventus all downed by Fulham, Hamburg were the only side that denied Roy Hodgson’s side a first-ever European final, and the Cottagers didn’t disappoint, with a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage booking the Thameside club with an encounter against Atletico, who were just off the back of beating Liverpool as mentioned.
Marcelo Bielsa introduces himself to Europe with Athletic Bilbao
Marcelo Bielsa is regarded by many as one of the most influential coaches in recent memory, though his reputation in the early 2010s in Europe was somewhat understated, yet that all changed during his first season with Athletic Bilbao.
After eliminating Manchester United, the Basque Country giants went one step further and secured a dramatic semi-final win against Sporting Lisbon after trailing in the first leg 2-1 to book an all-Spanish final against Atletico, with the Europa League run firmly putting Bielsa on the map and onto the radars of many top clubs.
Unai Emery demolishes Valencia with Arsenal
You can’t mention the Europa League and not talk about Unai Emery, the coach who has won the competition more times than any other manager, and with Arsenal, the Spaniard came close to adding another trophy to his cabinet.
Whilst the final against Chelsea was one to forget for Arsenal fans, the Europa League semi-final against Valencia, a former side of Emery’s, was a spectacle to behold, with the Gunners blowing the La Liga club away with devastating finishing as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagged a hat-trick in the second-leg in Spain.
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