UEFA Europa League finalists to be revealed on Thursday, semifinal ties nearly balanced

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Thursday will see UEFA Europa League semifinal second-leg clashes as record holders Sevilla will host Juventus in Spain, and Bayer Leverkusen will take on Roma in Germany.

After the first leg ended 1-1 in Italy's Turin on May 11, Sevilla target Juventus in the second leg at Seville's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.

The winner of this game will go through to the final in Budapest on May 31.

Sevilla secured a record six UEFA Cups/UEFA Europa Leagues in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2020.

Introduced in 1971, Europe's second-tier UEFA Cup was rebranded the Europa League in 2009.

Meanwhile, Italy's Roma, who have a slight advantage in the semifinal tie after winning the first leg 1-0 at Rome's Olimpico, will visit the German club Bayer Leverkusen at BayArena on Thursday evening.

Roma, the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League winners, have never claimed the Europa League title but played the final in the 1991 UEFA Cup.

Leverkusen won the title once in 1988 when it was the UEFA Cup.

Thursday's matches will start at 1900GMT.

Budapest's Puskas Arena will host this season's final on May 31.

The 2023 Europa League's winning club will gain a spot in the next season's UEFA Champions League group phase if they cannot qualify via their domestic leagues.

The Puskas Arena was named after Ferenc Puskas, who was a well-known Hungarian football legend and Real Madrid great, and UEFA confirms that it can host approximately 63,000 spectators.

The stadium previously hosted several UEFA EURO 2020 matches and the 2020 UEFA Super Cup between Bayern Munich and Sevilla.