European Football Review: Semi Finals (Second Leg)

Three English Clubs have successfully got to the Final in their respective European Competitions, and here we take a look at all of the action from the second leg matches of the 2024/25 Semi Finals across Europe.

The semi-finals of all three European Competitions have now come to an end, and football fans from across the world now know the clubs that will be competing for glory and silverware in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Conference League finals. In what is an extraordinary outcome for English Football, three Premier League clubs have successfully made it to the final of a European Competition this season.

These games, which were the second leg of the semi final ties in each of the European competitions, took place from Tuesday 6th to Thursday 8th May 2025, and there was plenty of enthralling action for all football fans to enjoy that took place across Europe this week.

In the UEFA Champions League, only Arsenal, PSG, Inter Milan, and FC Barcelona remained at the semi-final stage. And, following all of the action in the Semi Finals, Arsenal and FC Barcelona were both knocked out of this season’s competition at the last four stage, with both clubs not only losing on aggregate, but they both were also defeated on the night in their second leg matches against Paris Saint Germain and Inter Milan respectively.

So, in the end, it is Inter and PSG who will be coming face to face in the 2025 UEFA Champions League Final, which is set to take place at the iconic Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on the evening of Saturday 31st May 2025, with the kick-off set to take place at 8pm in the heart of Bavaria.

Moving on to the UEFA Europa League, Spurs, Bodø/Glimt, Manchester United, and Athletic Club Bilbao were the only clubs who remained in the competition ahead of the Semi-Finals. Following the second leg of the matches at the final four stage of this tournament, the two English Premier League Clubs are the only teams that remain, with Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur and Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United the two clubs that are set to go toe to toe in the Final.

The venue for the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League Final is the famous San Mamés in Bilbao, Spain, on Wednesday, 21st May 2025, with the game set to get underway at 8pm that evening.

Finally, we move on to the UEFA Conference League for this season. The 2024/25 Semi-Finals saw four clubs in the form of Chelsea, Real Betis, Fiorentina, and Djurgårdens remain. Then, following the conclusion of the action in second leg ties, it will be a fierce contest between Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis in the Final.

The Final for 2025 in the Conference League will be taking place in between the Europa League and Champions League Finals on the evening of Wednesday 28th May 2025, with the kick-off taking place at 8pm UK Time in what is going to be an intense contest that is set to be played at the Wrocław Stadium in the City of Wrocław in Poland, which is the home of Polish Ekstraklasa Club Śląsk Wrocław.

Here, we are going to take a look back at all of the matches that took place this week in the Second Leg of the 2024/25 European Competitions.

Inter Milan (Italy) 4 – 3 FC Barcelona (Spain) – San Siro – UEFA Champions League, Agg. 7 – 6

First up is the second leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Semi Final tie between Inter Milan and FC Barcelona, with the two clubs level at 3 – 3 following what had been an extraordinary game at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

If anything, this game in the heart of Milan at the iconic and historic San Siro was an even better game, with Inter Milan coming away as 4 – 3 winners after extra time to win 7 – 6 on aggregate in what will go down as one of the all time best and most memorable UEFA Champions League Semi Final ties of all time.

At the full time whistle, the two European Super Clubs were on level terms at 3 – 3, just like the first leg. It was Inter who took the initial lead once again through Lautaro Martinez with just more than twenty minutes having gone (21’), before this lead was then doubled courtesy of a successful penalty kick from the Nerazzurri’s Turkish international midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the first half stoppage time (45+1’).

Spanish international central defender and former Manchester City player Eric García, who pulled a goal back for the Blaugrana (54’), before a goal from fellow Spaniard Dani Olmo levelled terms on the night and on aggregate just a few moments later with just half an hour of the game remaining (60’). Barcelona then took the lead through ex-Leeds United and current senior Brazilian international forward Raphinha late on in the game (87’).

Then in the dying embers of the game, Francesco Acerbi scored the equalising goal deep into first half stoppage time, with Italian central midfielder Davide Frattesi scoring what turned out to be the winning goal early on in extra time (99’).

Paris Saint-Germain (France) 2 – 1 Arsenal (England) – Parc des Princes – UEFA Champions League, Agg. 3 – 1

Next up is the game at the Parc des Princes between Luis Enrique’s PSG and an Arsenal side who are led by his fellow Spaniard Mikel Arteta, with the second leg of this tie taking place at the heart of the French Capital, Paris, on Wednesday night. There was most certainly some work to do for the Gunners after having lost narrowly 1 – 0 in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium thanks to a goal early on from former FC Barcelona and current French international forward Ousmane Dembele (4’).

Unfortunately for Arsenal, they were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League for this season after losing 2 – 1 on the night in Paris to then lose 3 – 1 on aggregate against their Parisian opponents.

In this game, PSG took the lead thanks to a goal from Fabian Ruiz just before half an hour had gone in the first half (27’), before Moroccan right back Achraf Hakimi doubled the hosts’ advantage with just under twenty minutes remaining (72’). Bukayo Saka did though manage to pull a goal back (76’), but the Gunners could not add further goals to the scoreline, and they were knocked out of the competition as a result, missing out on the Final.

Bodø/Glimt (Norway) 0 – 2 Spurs (England) – Aspmyra – UEFA Europa League, Agg. 1 – 5

Next, we move on to the second legs of the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League Semi-Finals. The first game we will reflect on is the second leg of the last four tie between Norway’s Bodø/Glimt and a Tottenham side led by their Australian Head Coach Ange Postecoglou on Thursday evening. The tie saw Spurs leading 3 – 1 following the win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first leg in the week before that.

There was to be delight for all those who are associated with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club when they managed to successfully secure their place in the 2025 UEFA Europa League Final in Bilbao after beating their Norwegian opponents 2 – 0 in the second leg. The goals on the night at Aspmyra did come courtesy of clinical strikes on goal from the likes of Dominic Solanke (63’) and Pedro Porro, who scored what was a spectacular goal with barely more than twenty minutes of this game remaining (69’).

The final whistle saw some great celebrations, as Spurs look to go on and win the UEFA Europa League for the first time since they last did so in the 1983/84 season, beating Belgian team Anderlecht 4 – 3 on penalties after a two-legged final had ended level at 2 – 2.

Manchester United (England) 4 – 1 Athletic Club (Spain) – Old Trafford – UEFA Europa League, Agg. 7 – 1

We now move on to the second leg tie in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League Semi-Finals between Manchester United and Athletic Club of Bilbao in Spain. The two clubs are led by Ruben Amorim and Ernesto Valverde, respectively. Ahead of this game, United had been holding a commanding 3 – 0 win from the first leg, with the goals on that occasion coming from Casemiro (30’) and Bruno Fernandes, who scored a brace in the first half (37’ – Penalty, & 45’).

In this game, United were just as emphatic, with the Red Devils winning by a three goal margin once again, winning the tie with an emphatic 7 – 1 victory on aggregate following what was a commanding 4 – 1 win at home at Old Trafford in the second leg. The goals on this night came from the likes of Mason Mount, who scored a brace (72’, 90+1’), as well as goals from Casemiro (79’) and Rasmus Højlund in the latter stages of the second half (85’).

United have the chance to win their second ever UEFA Europa League crown when they face Spurs at the famous San Mamés in the 2025 Final later on in May 2025. This game will see United look for a first win in the final of this prestigious competition since beating Ajax 2 – 0 in the Final of the 2016/17 edition of the UEFA Europa League.

Fiorentina (Italy) 2 – 2 Real Betis (Spain) – Stadio Artemio Franchi – UEFA Conference League, Agg. 3 – 4

We are now going to be moving on to the review of the second leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League Semi Final ties that took place across the continent of Europe on the night of Thursday 8th May 2025, in tandem with the two second leg ties in the Europa League Semi-Finals.

We will first look at the second leg tie between Italy’s Fiorentina and Spain’s Real Betis at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in the heart of Florence in Italy. The first leg means that they went into this game with Real Betis leading the way at 2 – 1 on aggregate, with Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (6’) and Manchester United loanee Antony scoring for hosts Betis (64’), whilst it was Luca Ranieri who scored the only goal for La Viola in that game at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in the first leg (73’).

In the second leg, the two teams drew 2 – 2 after extra time, with neither side being able to take the lead in the end in open play. The goals had come from German senior international left back Robin Gosens for Fiorentina (34’ & 42’), whilst it was Antony (30’) and Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (97’) who were the scorers of the Real Betis goals in the second leg, both scoring as they had done in the first leg of this tie.

Real Betis secured their place in the 2025 UEFA Conference League Final in Poland thanks to a 4 – 3 aggregate victory against their Italian opponents Fiorentina. They will be playing Chelsea at the Wrocław Stadium, home of the Polish Ekstraklasa Club Śląsk Wrocław, based in the City of Wrocław.

Chelsea (England) 1 – 0 Djurgårdens (Sweden) – Stamford Bridge – UEFA Conference League, Agg. 5 – 1

The final game we are talking about and taking a look back at is the second leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League Semi-Final tie between Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea of the English Premier League and Jani Honkavaara’s Djurgårdens of the Swedish Allsvenskan at Stamford Bridge on the night of Thursday 8th May 2025.

The first leg saw Chelsea seal an emphatic and commanding 4 – 1 advantage over their counterparts from Sweden following goals from the likes of Jadon Sancho (12’), Noni Madueke (43’), and Nicolas Jackson (59’, 65’). Isak Alexander Alemayehu Mulugeta was the only player to score for the hosts on that night a few moments later (68’).

Then in the second leg of this tie in the heart of West London at the iconic and historic Stamford Bridge, a rotated Chelsea outfit were able to beat Djurgården 1 – 0 thanks to a crucial winning goal from the English central midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the latter stages of the first half (38’).

This meant that Chelsea had indeed secured passage into the Final against Spain’s Real Betis of LaLiga in the Final at the Wrocław Stadium in the city of Wrocław in Poland, thanks to a 5 – 1 win on aggregate over the two legs.

Excitement is already building ahead of the action to come in the highly prestigious Finals in the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, and finally the UEFA Conference League. These Finals will be taking place on the 31st May, the 21st May, and the 28th May 2025 respectively.

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