A magnificent Alexandre Lacazette free-kick sent Arsenal into the Europa League semifinals with a comfortable 1-0 win away to a toothless Napoli on Thursday, ending Serie A’s interest in European competition this season.
The Frenchman struck in the 36th minute to earn Arsenal a tie against Valencia, just as Napoli, trailing 2-0 from the first leg, was threatening to take control of the game.
Carlo Ancelotti's team lost its way after that and the London side was able to sit out the second half to reach the semifinals for the second season in a row with a 3-0 aggregate win.
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Valencia eased into the last four for the first time in five years with a comfortable 2-0 win to fellow Spanish side Villarreal for a resounding 5-1 aggregate scoreline. Toni Lato and Dani Parejo were the scorers.
Chelsea made it two Premier League teams in the last four, beating Slavia Prague 4-3 helped by a Pedro double in a first-half onslaught before withstanding the Czech’s comeback bid after the break in a pulsating game.
Chelsea was cruising 4-1 at half-time but Slavia added two goals early in the second period with powerful strikes by Petr Sevcik, which narrowed the aggregate score to 5-3.
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In the other quarterfinal, Eintracht Frankfurt beat Benfica Lisbon 2-0 on Thursday to overturn a 4-2 first leg deficit and advance to the last four on the away goal rule for its first European semifinal appearance in 39 years.
Goals from Filip Kostic and Sebastian Rode was enough to put it through and will next face Chelsea in the first leg of the semifinals on May 3.