This season’s Europa League final will be an all-Spanish affair after Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid progressed to the decider with victories on Thursday.
Bilbao squeezed past Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon 3-1 to complete a narrow 4-3 aggregate victory, while Atletico eased through with a 5-2 aggregate triumph over Valencia following a 1-0 away win on Thursday.
Fernando Llorente scored an 88th-minute winner to send Bilbao through and boss Marcelo Bielsa heaped praise on him for his influence.
“Llorente played like I had never seen since I have been at this club,” Bielsa said.
“Moreover, this was our smoothest match, as far as collective play goes. I was very happy for my players. I congratulated them and told them they absolutely deserved this.
“These kind of matches create in the players a huge sense of responsibility because they want to make the fans happy and are afraid to disappoint them. So we are all relieved to go through.”
It was far more tough for Sporting boss Sa Pinto to accept, as he said: “It is very hard to lose like this. Our expectations were to reach the final, that is what we worked for.
“We were an extraordinary team in this competition, in terms of quality and organisation, and we showed an incredible desire to win and reach the final in Bucharest.”
Meanwhile, victorious Atletico boss Diego Simeone said: “I am happy for my players, who are making a huge effort. It is heroic what they are doing, playing twice a week, with a squad which is not too big and has had injuries.
“I am also happy for the club’s officials, who have trusted us, and for the fans, who are proud of supporting Atletico tonight.”