The UEFA Europa League quarterfinals concludes on Thursday as four of the final eight teams in the competition will be sent home.
UEFA Europa League: The final four will be determined on Thursday
Juventus, Benfica, FC Porto and FC Basel all hold leads after their quarterfinal first legs, can they finish the job?
Alex Grimm
Soon to be Serie A champions Juventus grabbed a 1-0 victory over Lyon in France, and return to Italy with both the lead and a precious away goal. Lyon will have to bounce back from the disappointment of giving up a late goal in the first leg -- Leonardo Bonucci scored in the 85th minute -- and deal with the extremely difficult task of trying to get a win over Juve in Turin.
Benfica returns home for their second leg against AZ Alkmaar also holding a 1-0 lead and an away goal thanks to Eduardo Salvio. Fellow Portuguese club FC Porto are up 1-0 as well, but they must travel to Spain for their second leg match against Sevilla. The Sevillistas have been strong at home this season, but they did lose their last Europa League home match against Real Betis, though they were able to come back in the second leg.
FC Basel is in the best shape of all the teams left, having defeated Valencia 3-0 in the first leg. It will take a monumental effort by the Spanish side to advance at this point, but when you're playing at home, anything is possible.
All four matches kick off at 3:05 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Benfica vs. AZ Alkmaar (Benfica leads 1-0)
Juventus vs. Lyon (Juve leads 1-0)
Sevilla FC vs. FC Porto (Porto leads 1-0)
Valencia vs. FC Basel (Basel leads 3-0)
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