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Martinez shines in penalty shootout as Villa reaches Europa Conference League semis. Fiorentina wins

Thu, Apr 18, 2024
Soccer News (AP)

Emiliano Martinez saved two spot kicks and Douglas Luiz converted the decisive penalty for Aston Villa to prevail 4-3 in a shootout over Lille and advance to the Europa Conference League semifinals Thursday.

After Villa won the first leg of their quarterfinals 2-1 last week, Yusuf Yazici and Benjamin Andre scored in each half for Lille's 2-0 lead before defender Matty Cash's 87th-minute goal evened the aggregate score 3-3 to force extra time.

Villa is into its first European semifinal since 1982 and will face either Fenerbahce or Olympiakos for a spot in the May 29 final in Athens.

Fiorentina, last year's runnerup, also reached the semifinals after Nicolas Gonzalez and Cristiano Biraghi both scored in extra time to edge 10-man Viktoria Plzen 2-0 in the second leg. The opening leg was a goalless draw. The Italian team will face either PAOK or Club Brugge. Plzen's Brazilian midfielder Cadu received a red card in the 66th minute.

The four Europa League second-leg quarterfinals were later Thursday with Liverpool needing to overcome a three-goal deficit at Atalanta.

West Ham was hosting the new Bundesliga champion Bayer Leverkusen after losing 2-0 in Germany while Roma has a 1-0 advantage in an all-Italian matchup against AC Milan. Benfica plays at Marseille with a 2-1 advantage.

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