With the Champions League finalists now being decided, attention will turn towards happenings in other European tournaments, and that includes European club football's tertiary competition. The UEFA Europa Conference League, which is now in its sophomore term, will also have its finalists settled once the second leg of this season's semi-finals comes to an end on Thursday, May 18th.
West Ham, Fiorentina, Basel, and AZ are the four remaining teams all hoping to have a chance at European glory in the final which will take place in the Czech Republic on June 7th.
Here's all you need to know ahead of the second leg of the semi-finals, which is poised on a knife's edge due to the very close score-lines from the first leg.
AZ vs West Ham
The Hammers are doing quite poorly in domestic competition, with just one win from their last five Premier League games seeing David Moyes's side sitting in a very disappointing 15th place. West Ham are just five points away from the drop zone, but are highly unlikely to be relegated unless if something goes terribly awry in their last two Premier League ties.
By contrast, the Hammers have done quite well in the Europa Conference League, first sailing through a two-legged play-off in which they beat Danish side Viborg 6-1 on aggregate before cruising through their group stage campaign by winning all six of their games. Moyes's squad then swept aside Cypriot-based team AEK Larnana in the round of 16, scoring six and conceding none, which preceded a very comfortable 5-2 aggregate victory against Belgian outfit Genk.
They now come into this upcoming tie having battled to a 2-1 victory over AZ in the first leg of their semi-finals tie, but the Dutch side have been full of quite a few surprises this season. Notably, AZ, who will serve as hosts for this upcoming game, not only survived a grueling three rounds of qualifying matches, but also beat a Lazio side 4-2 in the round of 16 that many had considered as serious contenders for this season's Europa Conference League title.
West Ham's last European success was over 20 years ago, when the Hammers clinched the Intertoto Cup in 1999 (that has now been discontinued) while AZ have never won a European title in club history. Only one of these teams will see their journey continue beyond this round and will feature in the final in Prague next month. Will it be West Ham, who have floundered in domestic affairs but flourished in Europe? Or will Dutch side AZ finally get one step closer towards ending their long wait for a European title?
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Basel vs Fiorentina
A 2-1 lead from the first leg has Swiss outfit Basel holding a slight advantage heading into part two of their two-legged semi-finals clash against Fiorentina. Heiko Vogel's squad will be desperate to get their hands on the coveted Europa Conference League title after a very disappointing showing in the Swiss Super League, where they are well out of the title race and currently find themselves in sixth spot. It's not been an easy journey for the Rotblau, who first navigated their way through three play-off rounds, before having to play an extra game in the knockout rounds after finishing second in their group.
That included coming from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against Trabzonspor, and hanging tough to defeat Eastern European outfit Slovan Bratislava 4-1 on penalties following a 4-4 aggregate draw and extra time. Basel also had to go to extra time in their quarter-finals tie with Nice to eventually dispatch their opponents 4-3, and came back from a goal down to defeat Fiorentina 2-1 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi last week.
Fiorentina, for their part, have had a relatively solid campaign in Serie A coming into this contest. However, the Gigliati are no strangers to European competition, and have excelled in the Europa Conference League thanks to the impressive form of striker Arthur Cabral. The Brazilian international is currently the tournament's top goal-scorer with seven goals, with his teammate, Serbia's Luka Jovic just one behind on six.
Suffice it to say, Fiorentina, who have lost their last two Europa Conference League games, will hope to have all their key players firing on all cylinders if they hope to book their spot in the final.
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