Fernando Torres celebrate his goal against FC Basel
Chelsea advanced to a European
final for the second successive
season with a comprehensive 3-1
Europa League semi-final second
leg win against FC Basel at
Stamford Bridge, 5-2 on aggregate. Last season's Champions League
winners fell behind to Mohamed
Salah's fine 45th-minute goal for
the Swiss champions, but
Fernando Torres and Victor
Moses maintained their impressive individual records in the
competition by scoring within
three second-half minutes. David Luiz's stunning curled goal
ended the tie as a contest and
ensured Chelsea's passage to the
May 15 final in Amsterdam against
his former club Benfica - but
there was no record-equalling goal for Frank Lampard on a
memorable night in west London. Chelsea are now well-placed to
secure both their targets in the
final weeks of Rafael Benitez's
reign, with the Europa League
their eighth and final chance of
silverware at the end of another turbulent season. It would also
mean Chelsea become the first
team to hold both European titles
at the same time, with the
Champions League final on May
25. Oscar Cardozo struck twice as
Benfica overturned a first-leg
deficit to reach the Europa
League final 3-1 - 3-2 on
aggregate - at the expense of
Fenerbahce. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in
Turkey, the hosts got off to the
perfect start at the Estadio da
Luz when Nicolas Gaitan put them
ahead on the night and level
overall within nine minutes. They were pegged back by a Dirk
Kuyt penalty against the run of
play soon after, but Cardozo's
slick finish restored Benfica's lead
before the break and the
Paraguay striker was in the right place again midway through the
second half to slam home the
crucial third goal.