Europa Conference League: West Ham draw with Gent, Fiorentina demolish Lech Poznan
Gent - West Ham 1-1
Despite competing in the last eight of a European competition for the first time since 1991/92, the hosts looked full of confidence during the opening exchanges, with plenty of possession inside the West Ham half. However, for all their dominance, clear-cut chances came at a premium for the Belgian outfit, with Kamil Piątkowski and Julien De Sart failing to hit the target with a pair of speculative efforts.
After an uninspiring start, the visitors gradually gained a foothold in the contest, and were rewarded with a breakthrough on the stroke of HT. Vladimír Coufal’s quick throw-in found Jarrod Bowen in a pocket of space inside the Gent box, and the English international fired a clever-cut back into the path of Danny Ings, who tapped home for the first European goal of his career.
Undeterred by the set-back, Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s side emerged after the restart eager to regain control of proceedings, and found a deserved equaliser within 12 minutes, as talisman Hugo Cuypers cut inside Ben Johnson and finished confidently beyond Alphonse Areola. Having restored parity, Gent looked to take advantage of their momentum and went in pursuit of a quick-fire second, however Alessio Castro-Montes’ fierce angled strike flew narrowly wide of the far post.
This set up a fascinating final 15 minutes, with both sides intent on finding a late winner to take into next week’s second leg. Roared on by the fervent home support, the best opportunity unsurprisingly fell to the hosts, but Gift Orban’s brilliant acrobatic effort cannoned against the crossbar, as the West Ham rearguard held firm under pressure to take a hard-earned 1-1 draw back to the London Stadium.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alessio Castro-Montes (Gent)
Anderlecht - AZ Alkmaar 2-0
Anderlecht had scraped 2-1 on aggregate past 2021 UEFA Europa League winners Villarreal in the previous round, whereas Alkmaar executed a brace of comebacks against Serie A giants Lazio, and this certainly poised the dark horses to have a go at one another. It wasn’t long before that they stretched each other at the back, indulging in a tasty opening affair that looked destined to materialise into an exciting tie of high-tempo football.
What turned out to be promising for either team, eventually turned positive for the hosts midway through the half, when Michael Murillo moseyed his way into the box and directed an inch-perfect Anders Dreyer cross into the bottom corner. Although Pascal Jansen’s men grew into the game thereafter, they could hardly shape their advances into something worthy of dealing damage, as Anderlecht proved commanding enough to guard their narrow lead, denying AZ a fourth successive 1-1 scoreline at HT in UECL games.
Vangelis Pavlidis, Tijjani Reijnders and Jordy Clasie all thwarted great opportunities to level proceedings, but hopes of inflicting just a second continental home defeat on the Belgians looked bleaker by the minute for the Kaaskoppen. Taking advantage of the visitors’ inadequacies, the hosts struck a match-winning blow in the 70th minute, after Majeed Ashimeru capped off a fantastic counterattack with an edge-of-the-box drive which shot-stopper Mathew Ryan could do nothing about.
Having found their feet under former Brentford assistant coach Brian Reimer, Anderlecht now find themselves running high on a seven-game unbeaten streak following an impressive sixth consecutive clean sheet in the process. In stark contrast, AZ succumb to a fourth straight clash without victory, winless precisely since their brilliant turnaround against the Biancocelesti in mid-March.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Majeed Ashimeru (RSC Anderlecht)
Basel - Nice 2-2
Basel made it through to the last eight courtesy of a dramatic comeback against Slovan Bratislava, clawing their way back from two down and avoiding elimination thanks to Zeki Amdouni’s late equaliser before ultimately prevailing in a penalty shootout. And Heiko Vogel’s men picked up where they left off in Europe’s third-tier competition, earning another opportunity to score from 12 yards midway through the first half of this contest. Centre-back Kasim Adams Nuhu’s ball over the top set Dan Ndoye away, with the former Nice forward barged over in the box by Jean-Clair Todibo, resulting in Amdouni himself stepping up and sending Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way.
But Didier Digard’s side worked their way back into the encounter and levelled things up through the prolific Moffi. Pablo Rosario’s crossfield pass was headed down by Aaron Ramsey to Gaëtan Laborde, whose effort was blocked by Kasim into the path of the Lorient loanee, and he showed great alertness to lash in low to Marwin Hitz’s left. However, if that strike was reasonably simple by Moffi’s standards, his second of the evening was anything but. Khéphren Thuram found Laborde, and the 28-year-old showed impressive vision to find the Nigerian, who did the rest with an incredible acrobatic effort to stun everyone in the stadium.
High on confidence, the Eagles dictated much of the play in the second period, but could easily have been pegged back were it not for a vital touch from Schmeichel to divert Michael Lang’s drive away from the waiting Ndoye. And the southern French outfit were stung on 71 minutes as another dangerous Lang cross was this time headed in by Amdouni for his 14th goal in Red and Blue this term. Incensed at relinquishing control, Nice went on the front foot again, Laborde twice drawing Hitz into smart stops as Schmeichel denied Ndoye in stoppage time.
However, they weren’t able to add to that tally, meaning that it’s all to play for at the Allianz Riviera next Thursday. Basel will continue to fly the flag as the last surviving Swiss club in European action this term, and the pressure is only redoubled by their domestic woes, which has them on course for a first finish outside the Swiss Super League’s top three since 2001. As for Nice, their first quarter-final appearance in any UEFA quarter-finals for 63 years still hangs in the balance.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Terem Moffi (OGC Nice)
Lech Poznan - Fiorentina 1-4
Both sides came into the contest in impressive form, but it was the visitors that landed the first significant blow. Nicolás González’s fourth-minute strike cannoned off the post before striking the back of Filip Bednarek, and while the Poznań goalkeeper lost track of the ball, Arthur Cabral quickly pounced to squeeze home the opening goal. As the contest entered the 20th minute, Fiorentina were inches away from doubling their advantage when Josip Brekalo was denied by the upright.
It proved to be a pivotal moment, as from the resulting counterattack, Poznań managed to restore parity thanks to Kristoffer Velde’s fourth UECL goal of the season. A lofted cross from the right flank found Mikael Ishak, who intelligently knocked the ball down for Kristoffer Velde to rifle a powerful effort beyond Pietro Terracciano. Fiorentina were undeterred by Poznań’s equaliser, and their steady pressure paid dividends in the closing stages of the first period when González rose high to meet Cristiano Biraghi’s dangerous delivery, guiding his downward header past Filip Bednarek to restore the visitors’ lead.
With momentum in their favour, Fiorentina flew out of the blocks in the second half to put the game and perhaps the entire tie beyond doubt. First, Giacomo Bonaventura added a third with an unstoppable effort after the ball bounced into his path from Jonathan Ikoné’s blocked shot. Ikone, who replaced the injured González in the 51st minute, had a goal of his own to celebrate just after the hour mark. The 24-year-old was given the time and space to advance towards the edge of the Poznań box, before finding the bottom corner with a precise finish.
With the Polish side unable to muster any sort of response, their seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an abrupt end. Fiorentina, meanwhile, have now avoided defeat in 14 competitive matches and are on the brink of a European semi-final.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina)