On character: how Leipzig, Eintracht and Feyenoord pulled out victories, and Leicester escaped in the match with Roma

German superiority

In the Europa League, one of the main intrigues was whether both teams from Germany would be able to overcome the barrier of the semi-finals and determine the winner of the trophy in a face-to-face dispute.

The last time this happened back in 1980, when the tournament was still called the UEFA Cup.

Then the victor was determined based on the results of a two-match confrontation, and Eintracht and Borussia Mönchengladbach reached the decisive stage.

Frankfurters lost 2-3 away, but at home they prevailed with a score of 1-0 and won thanks to a larger number of goals in a foreign field.

Curiously, 42 years later, Eintracht have an excellent chance of repeating the achievement and once again gaining the upper hand in the final.

True, for this he needs to go through the formidable West Ham, which has already managed to deal with Lyon and Sevilla.

Moreover, the first match wards of Oliver Glasner had to spend away, where their rivals are especially strong.

The Hammers have only lost once in London this season in the Europa League, scoring three wins and sharing the points once.

But this time, everything did not immediately go according to the plan of the owners.

Already in the 50th second, Rafael Borre cut out a great serve into the penalty area, and Ansgar Knauff, who came running, struck his head irresistibly.

As expected, an early goal opened the game, and for the rest of the time the fans could enjoy double-edged football with an abundance of dangerous episodes.

For two, the opponents struck 23 blows and created a total of seven clear moments, with most of them at the gate of Kevin Trapp.

But only one of them managed to be converted into a goal scored.

After drawing a free kick, Kurt Zouma made a discount to the goalkeeper, and Michael Antonio closed the pass in the fall.

Subsequently, West Ham had many opportunities to tip the scales in their favor.

Tomas Soucek shot from outside the penalty area, Mohamed Benrahma fired powerfully from 25 meters, but Jarrod Bowen was unlucky more than the others.

In the first half, the midfielder hit the post from an advantageous position, and in the second he struck through himself, but hit the crossbar.

Eintracht was much less wasteful.

At the 54th minute, Djibril Sow played a wall with Jesper Lindström and left the opponent's entire defense out of work, but he could not upset Alfonso Areola.

But the first to finish was Daichi Kamada, who set the final score of the meeting.

Another German club also won with a minimal advantage.

Unlike rivals in the Bundesliga, Leipzig played at home, but with a much less status team.

In the 1/16 finals, the Rangers sensationally defeated Borussia Dortmund, but in the later stages they dealt with not the most powerful opponents.

Therefore, it was quite difficult to unambiguously assess its real level.

And this time, the wards of Giovanni van Bronkhorst were far from being as convincing as in the confrontations with Red Star and Braga.

In 90 minutes, they scored 0.32 of the expected goals (xG) and had one truly dangerous moment.

At the beginning of the second half, Ryan Kent burst into the penalty area and rolled into the far corner, but missed.

Later, the Englishman will still warm up Peter Gulachi, but this hit on target will remain the only one in the asset of the team from Glasgow.

Leipzig, on the other hand, disturbed 40-year-old Allan McGregor four times.

Conrad Laimer, Tyler Adams and Christopher Nkunku did it once, but Angelino managed to succeed.

In the 85th minute, the left-back was the first on the rebound after a corner and put the ball into the net with a magnificent volley.

The Scottish goalkeeper didn't bail out, and Domenico Tedesco's men secured a slight lead ahead of their trip to Ibrox.

Draw in Rome and goal feast in Rotterdam

If the German clubs have focused on playing in the second most important European Cup, then the British have representation in the Conference League.

In terms of the cost of the composition, Leicester surpasses all the remaining semi-finalists of the tournament and can safely be called its main favorite, but at the same time, it risks not reaching the decisive stage at all.

In the home match with Roma, Brendan Rodgers' wards, although they looked sharper, could not win.

Away Jose Mourinho expectedly shifted the focus towards defense.

During the entire meeting, the Jalorossi made only four shots on goal and hit the target twice, but in terms of the quality of chances, they significantly outperformed their rivals.

Already in the 15th minute, Lorenzo Pellegrini responded to a cutting pass from the club's graduate Nikola Zalevsky and rolled past the goalkeeper.

And in the very ending, Sergio Oliveira almost shocked the local public.

Tammy Abraham, who was in a difficult situation, came up with an ingenious heel pass to the Portuguese, and he powerfully hit the top nine.

But Kasper Schmeichel miraculously rescued.

Leicester, although Rui Patricio was noticeably more often worried (13:4), could not create serious problems.

It was not possible to crack the massive defense of the Romans for a long time, as a result of which it remained to rely on long-range strikes and standards.

Ademola Lukman was more active than the rest - first he shot powerfully from outside the penalty area, and then turned out to be the quickest of all when taking a corner.

As a result, the Nigerian still got his way and made the Roma defender make a mistake.

Lightning breakthrough Harvey Barnes on the flank ended with a cross chamber, and Gianluca Mancini cut the ball into his own net.

Everything could have ended in a draw in the second semi-final, in which Feyenoord and Marseille met with each other.

The opponents forgot about the defense and already in the first half upset each other twice.

Moreover, both goals of the hosts fit in 2 minutes 45 seconds and were not without the participation of one of the main creatives of the Rotterdam team, Luis Sinisterra.

On the first occasion, he assisted Cyril Dessers and then scored himself.

It took the guests a little more time, but the goals were even more spectacular.

First, Amadou Bamba Dieng completed a cool multi-move with a great shot, and then Gerson played on the rebound.

But already in the tenth second of the second half, Marseille made a fatal mistake.

The ball rally from the center of the field ended in a gross mistake by Due Chaleta-Tzara, whose pass to the goalkeeper in short supply helped Dessers go one on one.

The Nigerian did not miss and with ten goals strengthened in the status of the top scorer of the Conference League.

In the remaining time, Cyril himself could score a hat-trick, and Dimitri Payet had a chance to restore equality, but both did not succeed.

Feyenoord took the upper hand at home and got an advantage, albeit a small one, before the second leg.