Europa League: Atletico and Bilbao in all-Spanish final

Athletic Bilbao moved within touching distance of a first continental trophy when they beat Sporting 3-1 last night to go through to next month’s Europa League final 4-3 on aggregate.

Bilbao will play La Liga rivals and 2010 winners Atletico Madrid in the final in Bucharest on 9 May after Diego Simeone’s side completed a 5-2 aggregate victory over Valencia.

Towering striker Fernando Llorente was the hero for the Basque club in the semi-final second leg at the San Mames, creating their first two goals and volleying in the crucial strike in the 88th minute.

After Sporting fought back to win last week’s first leg in Lisbon 2-1, Markel Susaeta put the home side ahead in the 17th minute, Ricky van Wolfswinkel levelled for the Portuguese in the 44th and Ibai Gomez made it 2-1 in first-half added time.

In the other semi-final, Adrian Lopez’s brilliant second-half strike confirmed Atletico Madrid’s place in the final with a 1-0 victory at Valencia. The forward thumped a glorious angled shot into the top corner in the 60th minute to end Valencia’s hopes of a comeback.

The hosts, 4-2 down from the first leg, did everything but score in a one-sided first half as their opponents lived very dangerously, but Adrian taught them a lesson in clinical finishing.

Valencia poured forward in search of an early goal to start the fightback from their first-leg deficit but ran into inspired Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, on loan from Chelsea, who kept them at bay.

The hosts had one of their brightest performers, Sergio Canales, carried off in tears with what looked like a serious knee injury in the 59th minute and almost immediately Adrian ended the game as a contest. Atletico lost captain Thiago to a needless red card late on when he was dismissed following a mass confrontation and he will now miss the final. Tiago appeared to have been penalised for a handball, when it struck a Valencia player’s hand in the area, and a messy scuffle followed.