UEFA Youth League semi-final preview: Salzburg-Trabzonspor, AZ Alkmaar-Barcelona

The UEFA Youth League semi-finals are played on Friday at Colovray Sports Centre, opposite UEFA's Swiss headquarters in Nyon, as the 11th edition concludes.

Former champions Salzburg take on history-makers Trabzonspor in the first semi-final before two more past winners are matched with AZ Alkmaar facing Barcelona. We preview the ties as the teams aim for Monday's final.

Salzburg vs Trabzonspor

While Salzburg are in their fourth semi, aiming for their third final and second title, Trabzonspor are breaking new ground. No Turkish club had even reached the round of 16 before this season but home wins against Juventus, Atalanta (on penalties) and league phase table-toppers Inter in front of respective crowds of 10,575, 13,102 and a competition-record 40,368 have taken Trabzonspor to Nyon with a chance to become the ninth different champions (from the seventh distinct association) out of 11 editions. Unsurprisingly, this semi-final is sold out.

The victory against Inter was achieved despite goalkeeper Ahmet Yıldırım, who had kept clean sheets against Juve and Atalanta, missing out due to injury (as is alternative Onuralp Çevikkan) but Erol Can Çolak, who has appeared regularly at domestic level, stepped up, saving a penalty. That showed their strength in depth, just as they have further forward since the prolific Poyraz Yıldırım was loaned to Ümraniyespor in January, having scored six goals in the domestic champions path. Abdurrahman Bayram and Ekrem Terzi are both suspended for the semi-finals.

Salzburg, who won this competition from the domestic champions path in 2016/17, came through the new-look league phase this time, dropping only two points to finish third. Holders Olympiacos were dethroned by Salzburg in the quarter-finals thanks to a superb goal by Swiss youth international Enrique Aguilar, who like much of the squad, including coach Daniel Beichler, doubles up with Austrian senior second-tier side Liefering. Aguilar has been out with an injury however, as have fellow attacker Oghenetejiri Adejenughure and current competition joint-top scorer Phillip Verhounig, recently given a Salzburg senior contract.

Daniel Beichler, Salzburg coach: "It obviously won’t be 40,000 [Trabzonspor fans] this time, but we are assuming there’ll be around 3,000 and so almost the entire stadium will be in Turkish hands. That will be a fact .. We should deal well with that. It should also motivate us that the whole stadium is against us.

"That’s an exciting challenge, an exciting task for us. In the end, the goal has to be to quiet down the Turkish fans with our own game. If we achieve that, it would mean that we’re playing a good game, and are on the road to victory. That should be our goal for this match."

Jannik Schuster, Salzburg defender: "[Trabzonspor are] a very passionate team but with a lot of quality too. Turkish teams normally have a lot of quality, particularly individually. It certainly won’t be an easy task."

Eyüp Saka, Trabzonspor coach: "We want to play attacking football, we want to play quickly, and we want to play as a team with enthusiasm, tempo and resilience while also being good to watch."

"We have a great respect for Salzburg. They are an athletic team that presses high up. They try to play quickly; they try to press. But we’ve come this far, so we want to leave a mark. We believe in ourselves and trust our abilities."

Salih Malkoçoğlu, Trabzonspor midfielder: "We are proud of ourselves but we do not think that the semi-finals are enough for us. We’d like to make it to the final, and feel that moment. We really trust ourselves. We made it all the way to the final four. We’re really proud of ourselves, but we’re not stopping here. We want to make it to the final, win the cup and represent our country in the best way possible."

AZ Alkmaar vs Barcelona 

Two more former champions face off in the second semi-final, and the omen might be good for AZ. In 2022/23 they beat Barcelona 2-0 in the round of 16 on their way to claiming the title in Geneva. Just as in that season, AZ began this campaign in the domestic champions path, knocking out Manchester United at Old Trafford, and have subsequently eliminated two fellow former champions in Benfica and Real Madrid (a club Alkmaar also beat in 2022/23).

AZ are on a competition-record unbeaten run (not counting penalty shoot-outs) of 24 games, but Barcelona have set a new mark of their own by reaching the finals for the fifth time. They are aiming to be the first three-time champions (only they and Chelsea have won this trophy twice) and ended the league phase only one place behind Salzburg in fourth after bouncing back from an opening 4-3 defeat at Monaco with five straight victories.

Whereas AZ, Salzburg and Trabzonspor only played one away game between them from the round of 32 to quarter-finals, Barcelona travelled to both Aston Villa and Stuttgart for the wins that took them to Nyon once again. Barcelona's competition top score Arnau Pradas is among several La Masia talents tipped for success from their current squad, who have had a dominant domestic season under UEFA Champions League winner Juliano Belletti. However, Jan Virgili, Jofre Torrents and Pedro Fernandez have been left out of the squad to face AZ as they are with the relegation-threatened Barcelona Atlètic team (the senior reserves). They could travel to Nyon should Barcelona make the final.

Julian Oerip, AZ midfielder: "It will not be easy but we have done crazier things already this year."

Wassim Bouziane, AZ forward: "I am really looking forward to it, Barcelona is a big name. We last played them two years ago. We can beat them and need to trust in our own qualities."

Juliano Belletti, Barcelona coach: "[AZ] have players of real quality. They’ve shown a level of consistency which is very hard to achieve in football. Our team with our DNA will, of course, not change our style of play that much. We’ll try to give them a surprise with a few of our tactics, of course, while really respecting what AZ have been doing up until now. [We’ll play with] a lot of humility, continuing to play our style of play that’s got us this far. We’ll be realistic, but [we’ll play with] character and personality, as we always do."

Andrés Cuenca, Barcelona defender: "We have another big opportunity, for myself and the team, to achieve big things at this club, and all of us will give it our all. From what we’ve seen, [AZ are] a great team. They’re very physical, they run a lot, they have a good level of football, but at the end of the day, we’re Barça, and we’ve come here to play."