EUROPA League
EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL LIVE – INTER MILAN 5-0 SHAKHTAR DONETSK
INTER MILLAN will face Sevilla in the final!!!
FULL TIME: INTER MILAN 5-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
GOAL! INTER MILAN 5-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
GOAL! INTER MILAN 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
78min: That wiley old trickster Yevhen Konoplyanka is on for Shakhtar now. It’s far, far too late now though. Martinez pokes a through ball through for Romelu Lukaku who with a drilled effort across goal scores for the tenth Europa League game in a row.
GOAL! INTER MILAN 3-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
74min: Well it is all over now, Shakhtar once again give the ball away inside their own half and after getting the ball out his feet, Lautaro Martinez lashes home his second goal of the night from the edge of the box.
GOAL! INTER MILAN 3-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Martínez (Internazionale) scores!
Gooooal!
D’Ambrosio (Internazionale) scores!
It’s two! It’s been a much more open start to the second half and now Inter have doubled their lead. It’s a simple enough goal, Brozović’s deep corner from the right headed in by D’Ambrosio, but you have to say that’s another superb header. Great leap and powerfully headed in.
HALF-TIME: Inter Milan 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
The referee blows for half-time.
+1 Added time
- Inter take lead against Shakhtar
- Martínez heads in Barella cross
- Inter last reached semi-finals in 2002
- Shakhtar eyeing first final since 2009
- Winners face Sevilla in final
Inter Milan 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
31min: First real chance for Shakhtar. Dodo cuts the ball back for Junior Moraes eight yards out, but under pressure he can only steer the ball wide.
GOAL! INTER MILAN 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
18min: Of course, with the first attack we have a goal! Shakhtar sloppily clear the ball and it leads to Nicolo Barella whipping in a near post cross for Lautaro Martinez to head home.
KICK-OFF: The teams get underway in Dusseldorf
Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk are battling for the final ticket in the Europa League. The winner will face Sevilla on Friday.
· Inter Milan starting XI: Handanovic, Godin, de Vrij, Bastoni, D’Ambrosio, Barella, Brozovic, Gagliardini, Young, Lukaku, Martinez
· Shakhtar Donetsk starting XI: Pyatov, Dodo, Kryvtsov, Khocholava, Matviyenko, Marcos Antonio, Stepanenko, Marlos, Alan Patrick, Taison, Moraes
Four-times Europa League winner Unai Emery booked an astonishing sixth final in the competition as a manager on Thursday when his Aston Villa team swept aside Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their all-English semi-final.
The 54-year-old Spaniard has won three times with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and once with Villarreal (2021) – either side of a defeat with Arsenal (2019) – deservedly earning him the epithet “Mr Europa League” from some fans and media.
Now he goes to the 2026 final seeking a fifth title, this time with Aston Villa against Bundesliga side Freiburg.
“His track record speaks for itself,” said Villa striker Ollie Watkins, heaping praise on his boss as the man to guarantee Europa League success. “We need to go and win it now.”
Emery was delighted with how his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to Forest in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final to score four times at home and win 4-1 on aggregate.
“Now we have to look to the final,” he said, hoping that Villa will do “something fantastic” for their fans.
Though thrilled at Thursday’s win, Emery left the pitch quickly after the final whistle, pumping his fist a few times at the crowd before letting his players enjoy the moment with fans
He and his Villa side will be favourites at the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20, but Emery was taking nothing for granted. “Of course German teams are so difficult, their coaches, their players are so good,” he added of the upcoming opponents.
-Reuters
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List of teams which have qualified for the next round of the Europa League after the league phase concluded on Thursday, ranked by table position:
Directly to the round of 16:
1. Olympique Lyonnais (France)
2. Aston Villa (England)
3. Midtjylland (Denmark)
4. Real Betis (Spain)
5. Porto (Portugal)
6. Braga (Portugal)
7. Freiburg (Germany)
8. AS Roma (Italy)
Knockout phase play-off places (seeded)
9. Genk (Belgium)
10. Bologna (Italy)
11. VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
12. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
13. Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
15. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
16. Celta Vigo (Spain)
Knockout phase play-off places (unseeded)
17. PAOK (Greece)
18. Lille (France)
19. Fenerbahce (Turkey)
20. Panathinaikos (Greece)
21. Celtic (Scotland)
22. Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
23. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
24. SK Brann (Norway)
-Reuters
UEFA Europa League – Aston Villa v RB Salzburg – Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain – January 29, 2026 Aston
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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