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Valencia coach Unai Emery insists that Thursday's Europa League semi-final with Atletico Madrid will be the biggest game of his career.

Atletico Madrid striker Adrian is expecting "a very nice final" against fellow La Liga side Athletic Bilbao, after scoring the winner against Valencia to send his side through to the Europa League showpiece in Bucharest.

Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will head to the 2012 Europa League final in Bucharest, having overcome Valencia and Sporting respectively in Thursday's semi-final encounters.

Colombian striker Radamel Falcao continued his amazing goalscoring record in the Europa League with a brace as Atletico Madrid claimed a 4-2 victory over Valencia in their semi-final first leg at the Vicente Calderon.

Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas has warned his La Liga leaders they cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves after dropping two more points at the weekend or Barcelona will take the title.

Spanish football underlined its dominance of continental competition after Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid all advanced to the Europa League semi-finals, with Portuguese side Sporting joining them in the last four.

Athletic Bilbao kept up their push for Europa League glory as two goals from Fernando Llorente helped them to a 4-2 win at Schalke in the first leg of their quarter-final clash.

Inter Milan have sacked coach Claudio Ranieri, on the day club president Massimo Moratti had said the former Chelsea, Valencia and Roma boss was to stay in his post until the end of the season.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United's famed refusal to give in is the reason they are currently on top of the Premier League and says that same quality can see them avoid an exit from the Europa League on Thursday.

Valencia striker Roberto Soldado is relishing the prospect of lining up for Spain for the first time since 2007 and is determined to play his way into Vicente del Bosque's Euro 2012 squad.

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta says the club is happy to give Pep Guardiola all the time he needs to make a decision over his future.

Jose Mourinho insists success in the Champions League will have no bearing on his Real Madrid future and believes winning the league would be a greater achievement.

Barcelona beat third placed Valencia 5-1 at the Nou Camp with Lionel Messi in sensation form as he bagged all four goals to cut the gap to Real Madrid to ten points.

Manchester United have announced winger Antonio Valencia will be out of action for up to a month due to a hamstring injury sustained against Ajax.

Sergio Aguero came off the bench to hand Manchester City the advantage in their Europa League tie against FC Porto, as they snatched a 2-1 win.

Pep Guardiola has spoken of his excitement after setting up a Copa del Rey final meeting with Athletic Bilbao and hit back at the critics who suggested the team was losing motivation.