Shaktar Donetsk v Sevilla - Preview

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Sevilla will continue their bid for a third consecutive Europa League title when they play Shakhtar Donetsk in Thursday's semi-final first leg.

The Spanish side, winners in 2014 and 2015, like Shakhtar entered this year's competition after being knocked out at the Champions League group stage.

The match will be staged in Lviv, where Shakhtar have had to play home games.

They have been unable to play in their home ground in Donetsk due to the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Lviv lies nearly 800km to the west of Donetsk.

Uefa Cup winners in 2009, Shakhtar saw domestic rivals Dynamo Kiev claim their Ukrainian league title on Sunday.

They last met Sevilla in 2007, when the Spanish side's goalkeeper scored an injury-time equaliser to send their Uefa Cup last-16 tie into extra time.

Sevilla went on to win their second successive title and now have the most Europa League titles in history with four in total.

Mircea Lucescu

It is very important to maintain a high performance level. Shakhtar have reached it by lifting the UEFA Cup [in 2009] and now we are in the Europa League semi-finals. Other eastern teams like CSKA [Moskva], Zenit, Galatasaray all won the UEFA Cup but none managed a semi-final after it, none of them repeated their success. I'm very proud of my players and of the team.

We've shown some clips of the two games [against Sevilla in the 2007 UEFA Cup round of 16] to the players. We had ten seconds left! Sevilla went on to win the UEFA Cup. I think they just got lucky. Let's hope the luck they had then now passes to us; everything in life balances itself out.

Unai Emery, Sevilla coach

We're enjoying every moment, we have so much energy right now. Shakhtar's record in the last ten years is spectacular but they have lost important players along the way. We've got to the semi-finals three years in a row and are thinking only of getting through.

We're in great form at the moment. Our players' eyes are open, they are excited, and I think the team is united. We are well aware that we have an opportunity to make history.

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Bale Injury Worries Wales

Gareth Bale limped off during Real Madrid's win over Shakhtar Donetsk last night with a suspected calf injury sparking fears he could miss Wales' crucial Euro 2016 qualifiers next month.

The 26-year-old forward was replaced by Mateo Kovacic after just 32 minutes having gone down holding his calf a couple of minutes earlier.

Bale was one of three Madrid players to suffer injuries in the Champions League clash at the Bernabeu with defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane also picking up knocks as Madrid kicked off with a comfortable win.

However, manager Rafa Benitez admitted it is the injury to Bale that is most concerning.

"Obviously we have to wait," he said of the injured trio. "Two of them are kicks or knocks so we have to wait a little bit.

"Gareth is the only one I am a little bit more negative about in terms of the time so we have to wait, see the doctor and see what happens."

The injury casts doubt over whether the former Spurs man will be available for selection for Chris Coleman's Wales squad as they attempt to qualify for a first major tournament since 1958.

Wales need just one more point to reach Euro 2016 and face Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 10 before hosting Andorra three days later.

Bale himself is keeping his fingers crossed that he will not face a spell out of action, taking to social media to post on Twitter: "Great win at home to kick off our #UCL campaign, gutted to go off but hopefully nothing too serious."

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