The final European Thursday of the season has come and gone, and we have two pairs of finalists to show for it!

We express our excitement at the spectacle, as 3 of our 4 winners qualified for their first ever major European final (and the 4th, Aston Villa, returns to one after 44 years).

First we tackle the Europa League, where Villa dismantled a shoddy and somewhat short-handed Nottingham Forest. Can anyone beat Villa when they're their best? And is Emery just inevitable in this competition?

We then discuss how Freiburg handled 10-men Braga, thanks in part to an early red card and the young Swiss #10 Manzambi.

In the Conference League, Palace punished a vibrant but naive Shakhtar with ruthless counter-attacking and an experience Rayo Vallecano pressed the life out of the youthful Strasbourg. We explore how both Rayo and Palace controlled their respective games without the ball, each in very different ways, and look ahead to how these styles might clash in the final.

Finally, we make our tentative predictions for the showdowns in Istanbul and Wrocław.

Cheers to Iñigo Pérez!

Timecodes:

00:50 – the start, clubs rotating players ahead of semifinals

7:28 – Aston Villa-Nottingham Forest

21:15 – Freiburg-Braga

34:47 – Quick UEL final thoughts

38:06 – Crystal Palace-Shakhtar Donetsk

50:47 – RC Strasbourg-Rayo Vallecano

01:12:13 – Quick UECL final thoughts

01:16:28 – Are we at risk of English clubs dominating the UEL & UECL?

It was a compelling day of Europa and Conference League football, with 3 of the 4 home sides taking goal-advantages in the 1st leg of the semifinals.

Braga strengthened their case as the UEL's team of destiny, delighting their fans with a stoppage-time winner over Freiburg, while Forest edged past Villa 1-0 thanks to Chris Wood penalty.

In the UECL, Rayo Vallecano rode a confident 2nd-half display to take a narrow lead into Strasbourg next Thursday, and Crystal Palace impressed with a brutally efficient 3-1 display over Shakhtar.

We discuss how each victor earned their results, our level of concern for each loser, and what we think will be different in the 2nd legs.

Plus, everyone's favorite – a contentious and bitter takedown of VAR! Hooray!

Cheers Oliver Glasner!

It was another scintillating showcase of Europa and Conference League football Thursday, with more goals abounding.

The headline of the night is of course Braga's wild comeback in Seville, where they shocked Real Betis with four consecutive goals to advance. How has Braga become such a resilient group? And what went wrong for Betis?

Nottingham Forest squeaked through Porto thanks to a very silly red card and a deflected shot. Are they the 2024-25 Tottenham of this year's competition? Meanwhile, Aston Villa and Freiburg took care of business in impressive fashion. Are they our new favorites to meet in next month's final?

Over in the Conference, we witnessed two brilliant comeback attempts, with Strasbourg overwhelming Mainz and AEK Athens falling just short to Rayo Vallecano despite Zine's career night.

We also discuss Crystal Palace managing Fiorentina and Shakhtar extinguishing AZ Alkmaar.

Finally, we close with some brief thoughts on each eliminated team. What does each club need to do to replicate their European journeys and to go a step further?

Cheers to Carlos Vicens (and sub-cheers to Gary O'Neil)!