Europe Conference League: Quarter Finals Second Leg Round Up

The Europa Conference League, the tournament where anything and everything is possible, had a tremendous evening with the second leg of the quarter-finals.

Here are the best moments from the latest matchday.

The Hammers are into the semis

After playing in the Europa League semi-finals last year, West Ham United clinched another semi-final spot.

The first leg against Gent had ended in a 1-1 draw.

Hugo Cuypers, who equalized for the Belgians last week, scored first, to give the Belgian side the advantage.

But West Ham took back control with two goals from Michail Antonio, one from Declan Rice, and a penalty from Lucas Paqueta.

It was a dominant 4-1 win on the night, and ended 5-2 on aggregate.

West Ham in dreamland! 😍

Paquetá 🤝 Aguerd 🕺#UECL pic.twitter.com/inT1rV8LFU
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 20, 2023

AZ won the derby

Anderlecht won 2-0 in the first leg against AZ, and they could feel that the semi-finals were closer than ever.

But AZ’s Vangelis Pavlidis made the second leg completely different.

He scored a penalty after just five minutes, and added another goal to his tally less than 10 minutes later.

Anderlecht were in a state of shock, and couldn’t find the net.

In the end, the match was decided by penaltiesx and AZ won 4-1 - the Belgians missed twice before 19-year-old Mexx Meerdink scored the decider.

AZ will play in a European semi-final for the third time in their history, and their first since 2005.

💯 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏#AZ | @MatyRyan 🤝 @MilosKerkez5 pic.twitter.com/36LnkdQSie
— AZ (@AZAlkmaar) April 21, 2023

Fiorentina saved in Lech’s farewell

Fiorentina won 4-1 in the first leg against Lech Poznan, a result that was supposed to make the second leg in Florence easier, but Lech didn’t give up.

In an amazing performance, Afonso Sousa, Kristoffer Velde and Artur Sobiech scored for the Poles, equalizing the aggregate score.

Fiorentina had just 20 minutes to take back their lead.

With just ten minutes left on the clock, Riccardo Sottil scored for Fiorentina, and Gaetano Castrovilli scored another in added time.

Although Fiorentina lost 3-2 on the night, they have made it to the semi-finals.

Lech Poznan, though, completed a tremendous journey in this year’s Conference League, and will hope for another great campaign next year.

🔵 A journey to be proud of 👏👏#UECL || @LechPoznan pic.twitter.com/RdpNtV8Uds
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 21, 2023

Basel love to tie

Basel arrived at their game against Nice tied, 2-2.

The Swiss side had to overcome a challenge though, as their fans were not allowed to travel to France.

And it showed from the start, with Nice taking the lead.

With less than five minutes to go in the second half, however, Basel managed to pull back an equalizer, something they have done so many times already this season.

That goal took the game to extra time, where Kasim Nuhu scored the winner for Basel.

Out of the 12 matches they’ve played in the tournament this season, six were tied after 90 minutes.

But clearly that hasn’t impacted the Swiss side, who celebrate their first semi-final appearance since in the 2013 Europa League.

Edited by Alex Smith