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Jose Mourinho is one step closer to his sixth European trophy after his Roma side narrowly won the first leg against Bayer Leverkusen in their Europa League semi-final.
Mourinho famously won the competition during his UEFA Cup guise in 2003 when his Porto side defeated Celtic, a triumph that the Portuguese heralded to the rest of Europe. He won the Champions League a year later, before doing it with Inter in 2010 and giving Manchester United the Europa League in 2017. Last season he also won the inaugural Europa Conference League with Roma.
The only goal of the game at Stadio Olimpico was scored midway through the second half by 20-year-old Edoardo Bove, a shot from the center of the box low into the net.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen now has work to do in the second game next week in Germany.
Elsewhere in the Europa League, Juventus and Sevilla drew 1-1 in Turin.
If Juventus lift the trophy, which would be their first continental trophy since 1996 after losing five Champions League finals in the last 27 years, they will likely look back on Federico Gatti’s 90th-minute equalizer as a key moment. Sevilla had taken the lead in the first half through Youssef En-Nesyri.
Europa League first leg semi-final results
In the semi-final of the Europa Conference League, West Ham had to come from behind after a poor performance in the first half against a very technically controlled AZ side at the London Stadium.
AZ took the lead in the first half when Tijani Reijnders hit Alphonse Areola with a low shot at the near post. But Said Benrahma equalized from the penalty spot, before Mikhail Antonio completed the comeback with a tap fifteen minutes from time.
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In the second semi-final of the competition, Basel defeated Italy’s Fiorentina in an even later comeback than West Ham’s. Arthur Cabral’s header in the first half put La Viola ahead, a lead they held until teenage midfielder Andy Diouf found the bottom corner from the edge of the box to get Basel back into it. Zeki Amdouni then won it in the last minute for the Swiss side.
Europa Conference League first leg semi-final results
The second legs in both competitions will be played on Thursday 18 May.
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