Kevin Gameiro’s late goal eventually put holders Sevilla into the semi-finals of the Europa League despite the brave efforts of FC Zenit.
Carrying a 2-1 advantage into the second leg in St Petersburg, the Spanish side pushed on through an early Carlos Bacca penalty although it didn’t take the hosts long to pick up the challenge.
First José Rondón salvaged a deserved equaliser before Brazilian forward Hulk’s wonder goal looked like sending the game to extra time.
There would be one more twist though as substitute Kevin Gameiro found the corner of the net on 85 minutes and so Unai Emery’s team progress.
Fiorentina also secured their passage to the last four at the expense of Dynamo Kiev in Florence.
They’re cause was aided by the sending off of Jeremain Lens five minutes ahead of the interval, before goals from Mario Gomez and Juan Manuel Vargas late on led to a 2-0 win (3-1 on aggregate).
La Viola will be joined in Friday’s draw by Serie A rivals Napoli, whose 2-2 draw at home to Wolfsburg saw them advance 6-3 on aggregate. Second-half goals from Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens looked to have put Rafael Benitez’s side out of sight after their 4-1 first-leg triumph in Germany last Thursday. Timm Klose and Ivan Perisic scored in the space of three minutes to make the scoreline more respectable, but that was as good as it got for Dieter Hecking’s Wolves. Dnipro will make up the final four, the Ukrainian outfit securing their progress with a 1-0 triumph at the NSK Olimpiyskyi stadium to end Club Brugge’s record 11-match unbeaten run in the competition.
