Europa League semifinal preview: Two steps from Warsaw

These Europa League knockout rounds have been endlessly entertaining, with goals galore and some fun football being played despite many people overlooking it as the second-tier cup competition in Europe behind the Champions League. You wouldn’t know that the Europa League title means any less if you watched these teams play, though, because they’re leaving everything out on the pitch in every match.

There’s just four team remaining in the Europa League, and all of them have faced a difficult road to get here. Neither tie will be easy or straightforward or any other variation of “simple,” and we still really have no idea who’s going to make the final in Warsaw. Will it be the defending champions, Sevilla? Will we get an all-Italian final, with Napoli and Fiorentina each still alive? Or will it be the dark horse, Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk?

This first leg will push us a long ways towards knowing who will be in that final, but it won’t tell us the whole story. That doesn’t mean we won’t have fun, though, because these should be exciting matches.

3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local, Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, Spain
TV: Fox Sports 1 (U.S.), Gol T (Spain), Premium Calcio/HD (Italy), ITV4 (U.K.), Sportsnet regional (Canada)
Online: Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S.), Premium Play (Italy), Sportsnet World Now (Canada)
Listings from Live Soccer TV

The defending champs have gone through quite a gauntlet in the knockout rounds, with Sevilla blasting through two other favorites along the way and knocking out countrymen Villarreal while they were at it. Carlos Bacca, Kevin Gameiro and company have been making noise in La Liga and have been massively impressive in their Europa League run for a second year in a row, trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Europa League titles since 2007, when it was -- you guessed it -- Sevilla who won their second in a row. They’re in good health and good form, having taken Real Madrid to the brink this past weekend, though losing their long home undefeated streak along the way. Guess that means it’s time to start a new one, right?

Fiorentina, on the other hand, have mostly had a smoother ride on their way in this competition. They beat a fairly good Tottenham Hotspur side in the first knockout round, but thrashed a battered Roma side and easily beat a mediocre Dynamo Kyiv team to get here. Make no mistake, though, Fiorentina are still a very good team that deserve to be here, having fought hard through every match they’ve played along the way. They desperately want a crack at the title, still carrying the bitter taste of defeat from losing the UEFA Cup final in 1990 to Juventus. A win this year would legitimize the efforts the viola have been making to build their side up in recent years, and could catapult them to even greater heights -- but they have to beat Fiorentina first, and that’s no easy task.

3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local, Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy
TV: Fox Sports 2 (U.S.), Premium Calcio 1/2 HD (Italy), 2+2 (Ukraine), ITV4 (U.K.), Sportsnet World (Canada)
Online: Fox Soccer 2Go, ESPN3 (U.S.), Premium Play (Italy), Sportsnet World Now (Canada)
Listings from Live Soccer TV

Napoli have been a team of inconsistencies this season -- except in the Europa League. While they crashed out of the Champions League in the playoff round before the group stage and have run hot and cold in Serie A, the Italian team has been solid as a rock throughout the Europa League, losing just one match in the tournament all season and allowing just four goals in the knockout rounds. They’ve been a dominant force since the group stage ended, scoring sixteen goals through the first three rounds and positioning themselves as a strong favorite. They’ll be coming out swinging in this first stage, looking to use a rowdy home crowd to create a big early advantage in the tie before embarking on the more difficult second leg in Ukraine, and they certainly have the attacking firepower to do the job.

Dnipro haven’t had quite as smooth a ride, having to come back late in the second leg against both Olympiakos and Ajax to win those knockout ties, and taking until the last ten minutes of their quarterfinal tie against Club Brugge to score against the Belgians. While they’re definitely the underdog of this final four, they have the talent to give Napoli a couple of very, very bad days if the Italians underestimate them -- which is definitely a problem that the partenopei have experienced a time or ten this season. Dnipro are a very opportunistic side, so expect them to exploit any mistakes that Napoli make in this match. If they can get even one away goal, that could prove pivotal in the second leg.