It’s time for the semi-finals of the Conference League, with the first legs taking place on Thursday night.
England, Spain, Italy and Sweden are represented in the last four, by Chelsea, Real Betis, Fiorentina and Djurgarden respectively.
Here, we run through some key stats and facts as all four sides look to seize that all-important first-leg advantage.
Djurgarden v Chelsea (Thursday, 8pm BST)
Odds-on favourites with the bookies to win the Conference League, Chelsea head to Stockholm for a first-ever meeting with Djurgarden in the first leg of their semi-final.
The Blues failed to win for the first time in this season’s Conference League proper in the second leg of the quarter-finals, losing 2-1 at home to Legia Warsaw – but Enzo Maresca’s side had done the damage with a 3-0 first-leg victory, and they make the trip to the Swedish capital off the back of successive Premier League triumphs over Fulham and Everton.
Chelsea are still well in contention to qualify for the Champions League via a top-five Premier League finish, but they’ll be keen to end the campaign with silverware – and going all the way in the Conference League would see them become the first club to claim all three current major UEFA trophies, having won the Champions League in 2012 and 2021 and the Europa League in 2013 and 2019.
Djurgarden also recorded a 4-2 aggregate victory in the last eight, beating Rapid Vienna to become the first Swedish side to reach a major European semi since IFK Goteborg in the 1986/87 UEFA Cup.
Jani Honkavaara’s men enter this historic clash sitting 11th in the Swedish top flight, where the domestic season began in February.
Real Betis v Fiorentina (Thursday, 8pm BST)
The other tie in the last four sees first-time European semi-finalists Real Betis face Fiorentina, runners-up in each of the previous two editions of the Conference League.
This will be the very first competitive match between Betis and Fiorentina, who currently sit sixth in LaLiga and eighth in Serie A respectively.
Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis defeated Polish outfit Jagiellonia Bialystok 3-1 on aggregate to reach this stage, while Raffaele Palladino’s Fiorentina edged past NK Celje of Slovenia 4-3.
A game between two sides in decent form – Betis have lost only one of their last 13 in all competitions, beating Real Madrid along the way; Fiorentina are unbeaten in nine – it looks set to be a tasty encounter, for which English referee Michael Oliver will be in the middle.
