A hat-trick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and an Alexandre Lacazette strike booked Arsenal’s place in the Europa League final with a 4-2 win at Valencia on Thursday to seal an emphatic 7-3 aggregate victory. Unai Emery’s side will face Chelsea in Baku on May 29 after it beat Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties to ensure both European club competitions will feature all-English finals.
Arsenal’s first win on Spanish soil since beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2006 kept its hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Hefty deficit
Valencia, trailing 3-1 from the first-leg, was seeking to become the latest side to overturn a hefty deficit and made the perfect start as Kevin Gameiro slid in to convert Rodrigo’s centre with 11 minutes played.
Rodrigo sent an effort wide but Arsenal was soon level when Aubameyang notched his first out of nothing, producing a fine finish from outside the box from Lacazette’s flick on following goalkeeper Petr Cech’s long clearance.
Caught napping
Marcelino’s side was caught napping by Lacazette’s curling effort just after the break to put the visitor ahead on the night.
Gameiro converted Rodrigo’s mis-hit shot just before the hour to set up a possible grandstand finish, but Aubameyang soon restored Arsenal’s lead before completing his treble two minutes from time.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was Chelsea’s hero as the Spanish goalkeeper sent his side to the Europa League final with two penalty saves in a dramatic 4-3 shoot-out win against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Maurizio Sarri’s side took the lead in the semifinal second-leg thanks to Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s first half strike at Stamford Bridge.
But Luka Jovic equalised soon after the interval as a tense clash finished 1-1 after extra time and 2-2 on aggregate.
Cesar Azpilicueta’s penalty was saved by Kevin Trapp in the shoot-out, but Kepa kept out Martin Hinteregger’s effort and then turned away Goncalo Paciencia before Eden Hazard slotted home the decisive kick to spark wild celebrations.
The results: Europa League(semifinals, second-leg): Chelsea 1 (Loftus-Cheek 28) drew with Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Jovic 49) (2-2 on aggregate; Chelsea wins 4-3 on penalties) ; Valencia 2 (Gameiro 11, 58) lost to Arsenal 4 (Aubameyang 17, 69, 88, Lacazette 50) (Arsenal wins 7-3 on aggregate) .
