Crisis-hit Spain prevails in UEFA

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente (L) and Fernando Amorebieta celebrate a goal against Schalke 04 in the Europa League quarterfinals. REUTERS photo

Three Spanish clubs will seek tonight to reach the Europa League semifinals and build on the impression that whilst their country is in a financial crisis their football fortunes are in rude health.

Athletic Bilbao should progress at home to German side Schalke 04 having won 4-2 away last week while 2010 winner Atletico Madrid holds a 2-1 lead as it travels to German side Hanover while Valencia hosts AZ Alkmaar having lost 2-1 in the first leg.

Sporting Lisbon will be bidding to make it an all-Iberian quartet in the semis as it takes a 2-1 lead to Ukraine side Metalist Kharkiv.

The size of the task facing last season’s Champions League semifinalists Schalke is illustrated by the fact that Athletic Bilbao has only ever lost 3-0 once in European competition - to another Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in 2009.

Both sides failed to win at the weekend, Bilbao losing 2-0 to Barcelona while Schalke had to rely on an 80th minute penalty by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to force a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim.

The German side will be looking to the in-form Dutch star for an early goal tonight and maintain his rich vein of scoring form that has seen him net 23 in the Bundesliga this term.

Bilbao favorite

However, Athletic will be encouraged it can also score several more goals with the visitors probably forced to play fourth choice goalkeeper Mathias Schober as number one Timo Hildebrand was injured in the first leg and the other two goalkeepers are on their way back from injury.

The hosts’ leading striker Fernando Llorente has warned his team-mates that they would be foolish to already be thinking of the semi-finals where they will play either Sporting or Metalist.
“We can’t get carried away and relax,” he told UEFA.com.

“We know they have players who can be very dangerous in midfield and attack with Raul, Huntelaar and (Jefferson) Farfan) for example.

‘A very serious match’

“We need to play a very serious match so as not to have any problems.” Atletico’s leading scorer Colombian international Falcao is hoping to add a second Europa League winner’s medal to the one he won with Porto last year in a campaign where he broke Jurgen Klinsmann’s scoring record for a European club competition with 17.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone said that Hanover could obviously go into the match in confident mood having scored away from home but he still felt his side had the upper hand.

“They (Hanover) can feel entitled to be favored given they have an away goal and the home crowd behind them,” said the 41-year-old former Argentinian midfielder.

“However, we still have the advantage and I believe the strike power to see us through to the semi-finals,” added Simeone, who in two spells as a player with Atletico won the domestic double in 1996.
Valencia - winner of this competition in its previous UEFA Cup form in 2004 - also has reason to be confident of overturning its slight disadvantage against an Alkmaar side that has punched above its weight both in the Europa League and domestically this season.

Indeed Alkmaar is just a point behind league leaders Ajax as it seeks its third league title having been crowned champions in 1981 and 2009.

This is new territory for Metalist but the team will be looking to the inspiration of its domestic rivals Shakhtar Donetsk who became the first Ukrainian side to win an European club trophy when it beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in the last ever UEFA Cup final in 2009.