La Liga targets an unprecedented FOUR European finalists
The good health of La Liga’s football clubs has been demonstrated by the performances of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Sevilla in the first leg of their respective Champions League and Europa League semi-finals this week.
A goalless draw at Manchester City leaves Los Blancos with a great chance of advancing to the Champions League final in Milan on May 28. Zinedine Zidane’s side play the second leg at home where they will be the favourites to achieve a positive result. Things may be more difficult for Atletico, who have to visit Bayern Munich. However, they go to Germany with a 1-0 lead thanks to Saul’s goal and their defensive strength could edge them through.
In the Europa League, Sevilla were able to draw 2-2 away from home on their trip to Ukraine to take on Shakhtar Donetsk and they will have the belief that they can win the second leg at the Sanchez Pizjuan to advance to their fifth final in the competition’s history. Villarreal, meanwhile, will take a slender lead to Anfield next week after Adrian’s last minute goal helped them beat Liverpool. It will not be easy in England, though, given Jurgen Klopp’s side produced a stunning comeback against Borussia Dortmund just over two weeks ago.
NEVER A DOUBLE-DOUBLE FINAL
In the case that all four Spanish sides make the final, it would be the first time the four finalists in the two European competitions all come from the same national league. In the history of the Champions League, there have been four finals where both sides have been from the same country. However, in none of those seasons have the Europa League finalists been from the same country, too. The highest total to date is three, which occurred in 1989-90, 1994-96 and 1997-98 when three Italian sides were in the two finals on both occasions. Three German sides occupied four of the positions in 1979-80, while three Spanish sides did the same recently, in 2013-14.
