What to look out for in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final second legs

The identity of the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finalists will be known by the end of the week, and while a couple of teams have one foot in the last four, nobody is taking anything for granted.

In this piece presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, we pick out some key talking points ahead of the quarter-final second legs.

Quarter-final second legs

Thursday 20 April
Fiorentina vs Lech, 18:45 CET (4-1)
AZ Alkmaar vs Anderlecht, 18:45 CET (0-2)
West Ham vs Gent, 21:00 CET (1-1)
Nice vs Basel, 21:00 CET (2-2)

Hammers' home mission

David Moyes was first to admit that his West Ham side rather got away with one in the first leg away to Gent. Second best for much of the evening, the Hammers led against the run of play, got pegged back and were then grateful that Gift Orban's scissor kick wasn't a few centimetres lower as it rattled the crossbar.

Scare survived, West Ham are confident it will be a different game on home turf, where they have won five out of five in Europe this season. "Hopefully we can show them a bit more about how we play when we see them [again]," Moyes warned.

Viola's fine-tuned attack

The last time Fiorentina reached the last four in Europe, their success was built on solid defensive foundations. This season, it is all about a prolific attack that struck four goals for a third successive Europa Conference League away contest in Poznań last week. "The perfect game," according to midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura.

The Viola are averaging close to three goals a match in the competition, possess the two leading scorers and everything is coming together at just the right time, with the first leg extending their unbeaten run to 13 fixtures (W11 D2). Lech will need a perfect game of their own to recover this deficit, but the Polish side have scored three at Djurgården and Villarreal this term.

Anderlecht wary of AZ recovery

"It's been a familiar story in recent games: creating chances but not taking them," lamented AZ coach Pascal Jansen after his side's surprise 2-0 loss at Anderlecht. By full time, the Dutch team's players had passed 300 minutes without scoring a goal; gunning for the Eredivisie title a few weeks ago, they are now closer to fifth than third.

Yet when AZ get it right, they get it right – just ask Lazio, who were dispatched in the last 16. That may explain why Anderlecht boss Brian Riemer was so keen to douse any premature celebrations after the first leg. The Belgian outfit have had a torrid domestic campaign, but a run of six successive clean sheets before this weekend has given cause for optimism – another on Thursday and they're through to the last four.

Basel and Nice repeat?

The absorbing 2-2 first-leg draw in Switzerland enjoyed a bit more exposure than may have been expected thanks to this spectacular strike from Nice forward Terem Moffi. The Nigerian international gave this casual explanation of his second goal: "I saw Erling Haaland do it last weekend so I said, 'Why not?'" Why not, indeed, though easier said than done.

Nice may need some more Moffi magic in the return. Like Anderlecht, Basel have saved their best for Europe and the first leg was the seventh time in eight Europa Conference League matches that they have scored two or more goals. They also have an in-form striker of their own in Zeki Amdouni, who matched Moffi for quantity if not quality last week.

What's next?

The semi-finals take place on 11 and 18 May, with kick-off at 21:00 CET:

Lech / Fiorentina vs Basel / Nice
Gent / West Ham vs Anderlecht / AZ

The Eden Aréna (pictured above) in Prague, Czechia, will host this season's Europa Conference League final on 7 June.