Conference League: Leicester and Marseille-Feyenoord in the semifinals

Leicester-Rome and Marseille-Feyenoord: here are the two semifinals of the first edition of the Conference League. Only Roma was able to assert the home factor, in the return night of the quarterfinals: the other qualified players hit the semifinals by winning away from home. It was the same for Leicester, who won a comeback in Eindhoven and will face the Giallorossi in the next round. A historic milestone for the Foxes, who had never come this far in a European competition. Similarly, Feyenoord managed to overtake Slavia Prague and Olympique Marseille repeated their success against Paok in Thessaloniki. The teams will face each other on April 28 and May 5, to decide the two teams that will compete for the cup in the final in Tirana on the 25th of next month.

Psv-Leicester 1-2

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In the show in Eindhoven, Leicester prevails and finds a comeback in qualification after the 0-0 first leg. The rhythms are very high from the very beginning of the game. The first ring is from PSV and arrives in the 14th minute, when Gotze hits flat on the fly on a cross from the left but Schmeichel is exalted and deflects for a corner. Two minutes after the British response, with Barnes’ cross-shot at the end of a restart, which goes off just wide. The game is released in the 27th minute: Tielemans loses a bloody ball close to the edge of the area, Gotze recovers and touches for Zahavi, who despite the tight angle lets go the diagonal that surprises the opposing goalkeeper. Evans’ slight deviation was also complicit in the circumstance. Rodgers’ side nearly equalized just after the half hour, when Teze was decisive in saving Maddison’s deflected shot on the line, with Mvogo practically beaten. The recovery drops slightly in intensity but not on occasions. At 53 ‘Veerman tries from distance, Fofana dirties his trajectory and the ball splinters the ball. Leicester comes out, again one step away from 1-1 first with Daka, who flies off on the counterattack but does not frame the goal diagonally, and then with Maddison, whose attempt from the outside is cornered by Mvogo. The Dutch counter with Sangaré, who makes room with a percussion in the area, but then kicks very high. In the end, the thrust of the Foxes brings the desired results: good action by Perez who frees himself well on the bottom and leans back for Maddison, perfect to find the intersection and even the score. The Spaniard also has the overtaking ball, but on his way he finds the PSV goalkeeper, who raises the shot at the near post over the crossbar (83 ‘). Not bad, because at 88 ‘the comeback succeeds: splendid plot on the left, with Lookman serving Daka; Mvogo also saves this, but can do nothing about Pereira’s rebound, who scores the goal that is worth the qualification.

Slavia Prague 1-3 Feyenoord

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Feyenoord also wins away on Slavia Prague. It only takes a few moments for the Dutch to set the record straight. After less than two minutes of play, Dessers takes off using a dirty touch of the defense on a deep pass: face to face with Mandous he beats him with a precise shot at the far post. The balance is restored in the 14th minute, the draw is signed by Traoré who thanks Kocku who made a reckless back pass; the midfielder is good at failing with a fake Marciano and depositing on the net. At the end of the first half, Dessers has another excellent opportunity but this time the goalkeeper closes the mirror at the exit. The Belgian goes back to the 59th minute, taking advantage of another gift from his opponents: Mandous kicks his foot in an attempt to make a pass, the attacker recovers the ball and supports after having skipped the goalkeeper, also consoled by the referee Aytekin after the ‘mistake. Sinisterra puts the exclamation point in the 78th minute: Hendrix serves him perfectly in depth, the Colombian does the rest with a razor on the near post. In the final Dessers also has the chance for poker, but finds the opposition of the outgoing goalkeeper. At the end, direct red for Kacharaba for a foul on a clear chance from the net.

Paok-Olympique Marseille 0-1

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With the exception of Mandanda, Marseille do not need to do great things to overcome Paok. Sampaoli’s team waits for their opponents for the first half hour, giving up attacking. So much so that the only chance for the French is an autopalo, with Ingason who misses the control and almost scores in his own goal. A few minutes later, the guests took the lead with the usual Payet, very punctual to push Guendouzi’s suggestion into the net (34 ‘). Before the break, the Greeks have the same ball but Akpom’s sure-shot conclusion on the development of a corner kick is countered by teammate Crespo. The second half opens with a new attempt at an own goal by Ingason, who intercepts Gueye’s cross in a slip and his deflection touches the post. At 83 ‘Colak appears all alone in front of Mandanda to reopen the qualification discourse but closes his left too much and the ball goes out on the bottom. The goalkeeper then passes on Mitrita’s powerful and angled shot, to dissolve the last hopes of the Paok.