Semi-final second-leg facts and figures
Friday, May 15, 2015
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UEFA.com's Mike Hammond unearths the latest crop of milestones, with the coaches who have overseen the most UEFA Europa League games set to meet in the final.
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• Sevilla FC's 2-0 win away to ACF Fiorentina, coupled with their 3-0 first-leg victory, enabled the Spanish club to post the biggest aggregate winning margin in a UEFA Europa League semi-final. The previous best was a three-goal margin, held jointly by FC Porto (7-4 against Villarreal CF in 2010/11), Club Atlético de Madrid (5-2 against Valencia CF in 2011/12) and Chelsea FC (5-2 against FC Basel 1893 in 2012/13).
• Atlético and Chelsea are the only other clubs to have won both legs of a UEFA Europa League semi-final.
• Sevilla are the third club to have reached two UEFA Europa League finals – after Atlético and SL Benfica. No team has ever successfully defended the trophy in the UEFA Europa League era.
• FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk are through to the first European final in their history, and Ukraine has become only the fourth nation to be represented in the UEFA Europa League final – after Spain (now five appearances), Portugal (four) and England (two).
• Sevilla will be seeking to become Spain's fourth winner in six UEFA Europa League campaigns. No Liga side has yet lost to foreign opposition in the final.
• The semi-final elimination of Fiorentina and SSC Napoli mean that while more Italian clubs reached the UEFA Cup final (15 times) and lifted the trophy (nine wins) than from any other nation, still no Serie A side has participated in any of the six UEFA Europa League finals.
• The 2015 UEFA Europa League final will involve the two coaches with the most appearances in the competition, group stage to final. Sevilla's Unai Emery will oversee his 50th match in Warsaw while Dnipro's Myron Markevych will be involved for the 42nd time.
• Carlos Bacca's opening strike for Sevilla in the 2-0 win in Florence was his tenth UEFA Europa League goal, making him the 21st scorer to reach double figures in the competition. He and Kevin Gameiro are Sevilla's joint highest UEFA Europa League scorers with nine goals apiece, Bacca having found the net once for former side Club Brugge KV.
• Sevilla's other goalscorer in Florence, Daniel Carriço, extended his record number of UEFA Europa League appearances in that game to 47. It was the Portuguese defender's first goal in the competition for Sevilla and his third overall, having registered twice for previous side Sporting Clube de Portugal.
• Sevilla's two goals in Florence took them level with eliminated Napoli as the highest-scoring club in this season's UEFA Europa League with 26 goals each. Emery's team have already surpassed their tally of last season (22), however the record for a single campaign – Porto's 37 in 2010/11 - would appear to be well out of reach.
• Yevhen Seleznyov's winning goal for Dnipro against Napoli, following his equaliser in the first leg, continued a UEFA Europa League tradition in which at least one player has scored in both legs of the semi-final in each of the competition's six seasons. Those preceding Seleznyov on the roll of honour are Diego Forlán (2009/10), Radamel Falcao and Cani (2010/11), Adrián López (2011/12), Victor Moses and David Luiz (2012/13), and Stéphane Mbia (2013/14).