London: Portuguese clubs dominate the semifinal lineup for the Europa League after FC Porto, Benfica and Braga grabbed three of the four available spots on Thursday.
Porto completed a huge 10-3 aggregate win in its quarterfinal against Spartak Moscow with a 5-2 victory in Russia, while Benfica drew its second-leg match 2-2 at PSV Eindhoven to progress 6-3 past the Dutch side.
Porto will play its two-legged semifinal against Spain's Villarreal, which completed an Iberian sweep with a 3-1 win at FC Twente that rounded off a one-sided 8-2 victory over two matches.
Only Braga had to sweat over its chances, moving past Dynamo Kiev on away goals despite playing 71 minutes with 10 men. The teams drew 0-0 in Portugal but Braga progressed to a meeting courtesy of last week's 1-1 draw in Kiev.
With Braga meeting Benfica next, Portugal is guaranteed at least one team in the May 18 final in Dublin.
There have been seven previous finals between teams from the same nation, although all came in the tournament's previous guise as the UEFA Cup and none featured Portuguese sides.
Porto is the only Portuguese side to have won European club football's second-tier club competition, beating Celtic in the 2003 final under coach Jose Mourinho — a year before hoisting the more prestigious Champions League.
Benfica lost the 1983 final to Anderlecht.
Brazilian forward Hulk scored the opener and set up two more goals for a Porto side already 5-1 up from the first match.
"We are very, very happy with what we did today and in the first leg," Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas said.
Looking to salvage some pride, Spartak opened strongly but Porto counterattacked in the 28th minute and Hulk beat the offside trap from almost the center of the pitch before scoring with a low left-foot shot.
Cristian Rodriguez headed in Hulk's corner kick in first-half injury time, Freddy Guarin made it 3-0 in the 47th and, although Artem Dzyba got a goal back for the home side, Falcao added to his first-leg hat trick in the 54th with his 11th goal of the tournament — also from a corner by Hulk.
Ari scored for Spartak but Porto substitute Ruben Micael restored the three-goal advantage with one minute left.
Emir Bajrami gave Villarreal an early scare when he scored for Twente in the 31st but the home crowd's slim hopes were shattered when defender Dwight Tiendalli was ejected in the 53rd.
Italy striker Giuseppe Rossi equalized with the resulting penalty to restore the four-goal advantage Villarreal had built with a 5-1 first-leg win in Spain. Marco Ruben netted another penalty in the 84th and Ruben Cani scored the third five minutes later to wrap up the win.
Benfica led 4-1 ahead of its trip to Eindhoven and had an even bigger scare than Villarreal, conceding two goals without reply in the first 25 minutes. Balazs Dzsudzsak converted Jeremain Lens' cross to put the Dutch side ahead and Lens doubled the lead with a fierce shot.
But Luisao silenced the buzzing PSV supporters in the 45th when he pulled one back for Benfica, acrobatically hitting the ball through the defense after goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson palmed away a shot.
Oscar Cardozo converted a penalty to level for Benfica in the 63rd.
Braga held on for more than an hour after Paulo Cesar was sent off for a brutal challenge on Andriy Yarmolenko, who scored in the first leg's 1-1 draw. But Dynamo defender Goran Popov also saw a red card in the 88th.
The first legs of the semifinals are scheduled for April 28, with the return matches a week later.
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