Bilbao Hapoel Game Postponed

A Europa League game in Israel was called off Wednesday because of the violence between Israeli forces and the Hamas group in Gaza.

UEFA cited "the tense security situation in the region" for postponing Thursday's match in Haifa between Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Spanish side Athletic Bilbao.

UEFA said a decision on rescheduling the match will be made by the end of the week.

UEFA did not say whether it would go ahead with the planned draw in Tel Aviv next Wednesday for the Under-21 European Championship.

Israel is to host the eight-nation tournament next June. UEFA President Michel Platini has planned to attend the draw along with officials from competing nations including England, Germany, Italy, Russia and Spain.

Athletic Bilbao had been scheduled to fly to Israel on Wednesday for the group-stage Europa League match.

Athletic spokesman Xavier Fernandez said UEFA called the club and informed it that "due to the circumstances currently prevailing in Israel, the match was not to go ahead."

"As a consequence, we have not flown out there," Fernandez told The Associated Press.

UEFA has been monitoring the security situation since an Israeli offensive in Gaza began last week.

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Rogers Reels from Udinese Loss

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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers challenged his players to improve their concentration after seeing Udinese come from behind to win 3-2 at Anfield.

The Italians scored three second-half goals to transform the Europa League tie after Liverpool dominated the opening 45 minutes to lead 1-0.

"We concede goals too easily," Rodgers said. "It's an area we have to work on.

"We were very good in the first half but we lost concentration and became lazy and found ourselves 3-1 down."

This was a third successive home defeat for Liverpool but Rodgers can see the areas his side must improve on ahead of the visit of Stoke in the Premier League on Sunday. "I thought the team worked very well but we can't have to score three, four or five goals to win games," Rodgers said.

Liverpool completed nearly four times as many passes at their Italian opponents at Anfield but having seen Antonio Di Natale equalise 32 seconds after the restart, they conceded two further goals in three second-half minutes as the match slipped away.

Rodgers introduced Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling as Liverpool attempted to rescue a point and although the Uruguayan striker pulled a goal back, it was too little too late.

"We injected some quality into the game in the last 15 minutes or so and got a goal back but we are just disappointed that after such a good first-half performance we have given away such poor goals," Rodgers added.

The result leaves the Premier League club third in Group A, a point behind Udinese and Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala after two games.

"It is still very tight and there are some excellent teams in our group," Rodgers said.

"For us it is important to qualify of course, but it is also an opportunity to give some of our younger players a chance."

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Atletico Ease into Europa Final

Adrian's goal gave Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win in Valencia, easing them into the final of the Europa League.

Atletico took a 4-2 lead into the second leg at the Mestalla, and they were on the back-foot for much of the game before hitting the home side with a crucial goal in the second-half.

Adrian struck a wonderful goal on the hour, which put them three-goals ahead on aggregate and was enough to take them through to the final in Bucharest were they will face Athletic Bilbao - who beat Sporting Lisbon.

Tiago, who will now miss the final, was red-carded with ten-minutes remaining but it did little to spoil Atletico's evening.

On top

Valencia, with work to do to get back in the tie, were quickly on top of their opponents.

Sofiane Feghouli's shot took a nick off Jonas on the way through, but Thibaut Courtois was alert to parry well. The on-loan Chelsea goalkeeper then reacted to tip Jonas' follow-up round the post.

Roberto Soldado fired over, just failed to get on the end of another ball in and then glanced a tough headed chance just wide as the hosts continued to carve out openings.

Atletico could barely get out of their own half and were hanging on desperately at times.

Antonio Barragan got free on the byline down the right and fired a ball across the face of goal, but it was hacked clear.

Jordi Alba threaded an excellent pass inside to Sergio Canales breaking into the left of the area, but his angled shot was pushed away by the busy Courtois.

The hosts were almost caught on the break at the other end when Arda Turan got free down the right and crossed for Radamel Falcao, but keeper Diego Alves just got to the ball ahead of the Colombian.

That was a rare dangerous moment for Atletico, though, and Valencia were soon on the attack again as Soldado narrowly failed to get a touch on Alba's ball in at the near post and Courtois held on.

But for all of their pressure the home side were struggling to find a finishing touch and it was all square at the break.

Valencia continued to press after the break, but they were stunned by a fantastic goal from Adrian.

The forward took the ball down on his chest and, from just inside the area on the right, flashed a ferocious effort into the far top corner, leaving Diego Alves not chance.

Needing three to go through, the hosts appeared resigned to their fate and Falcao should have made it two, only to be denied by the keeper.

Atletico lost Thiago to a red card in the 79th minute, the midfielder seemingly dismissed for aiming a slap at Soldado during a mass confrontation which followed a Valencia penalty claim.

The hosts had appealed for a handball against Thiago when he went up for a header in the area with Ricardo Costa, but the referee, after initially appearing to point to the spot, chose not to give a penalty. Replays proved him correct, showing the ball had struck Costa's hand rather than Thiago's.

There was not enough time for Valencia to look to capitalise on their extra man and Atletico kept them out to set up a final meeting with another Spanish side, Athletic Bilbao.

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Sporting Gain From Metalist Miss

Sporting Lisbon progressed to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after Cleiton Xavier's second-half penalty miss cost hosts Metalist Kharkiv dear in Ukraine.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg in Portugal, Sporting extended their lead through Ricky van Wolfswinkel before Jonathan Cristaldo equalised early in the second half to pile the pressure on the visitors.

But Metalist blew their big chance of levelling on aggregate in the 63rd minute when Alexandre Xandao fouled Marko Devic in the box, and Xavier rattled his resulting spot-kick at the legs of Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The Ukrainians had pushed forward from the start, with Edmar forcing a save out of Patricio in the third minute with a close-range header from a free-kick from the busy Xavier.

After the visitors responded by forcing a series of corners, Metalist again went on the offensive and came close to opening the scoring in the 12th minute when Cristaldo headed over from six yards.

Metalist were creating most of the chances and Rui Patricio did well to maintain Sporting's slender aggregate lead in the 29th minute when he tipped over an 18-yard shot from Xavier.

Freda Taison shot at the keeper's feet and Cristian Villagra fired over the bar from 12 yards before Sporting fashioned a rare shooting chance with Marat Izmailov hitting a shot over from long range.

With Sporting nudging back into the match, Van Wolfswinkel forced a 39th-minute save out of Oleksandr Goryainov, but Metalist came close again two minutes later when Patricio saved brilliantly to deny Xavier.

Out of nowhere, Sporting grabbed the opener in the last minute of the first half when Van Wolfswinkel headed home a cross by Diego Capel, extending the Portuguese side's aggregate lead.

Needing to score at least twice, Metalist made a good start to the second half with Cristaldo having a shot blocked in the box in the 48th minute and a dangerous Xavier free-kick booted clear by Xandao.

Matias Fernandez missed with a long-range effort which would have sealed it for the visitors in the 55th minute, and Metalist responded by equalising four minutes later when Cristaldo fired home from Devic's header down.

Metalist looked like pulling their way back into the match but after their penalty miss it was Sporting who regained control, and Metalist could summon no more clear-cut chances as the minutes ticked by.