European Cup: Things will heat up again on Thursday.

Following the Champions League semi-finals, four matches in the smaller European competitions are scheduled for Thursday. The finalists in the Europa League and Conference League will be determined.

07 May 2026

From: cst

More or less all the tiebreakers are still open. Only Crystal Palace secured a 3-1 away win in the first leg of their Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk, although the Ukrainians haven't been able to play at their Donbas Arena for years. All the other semi-finalists won their home games a week ago.

In the Europa League, they face Nottingham Forest and Sporting Braga with narrow leads going into the second leg. The Portuguese side will be playing away at SC Freiburg. English giants Nottingham Forest (who won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980) will be playing away at league rivals Aston Villa.

Jorge de Frutos (left) secured a home victory with Rayo Vallecano and faces an away match on Thursday. © APA/afp / PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU

In the Conference League, Racing Strasbourg and Rayo Vallecano will contest the second leg of their semi-final tie, with the Spaniards considered the heavy underdogs. Rayo is a small, working-class club from Madrid that has bounced between the first and second divisions in recent years. A nice side note: Rayo chartered an entire plane for the second leg and flew to Strasbourg, Chelsea's satellite club, with fans, family members, and journalists.

European Cup: Semi-final second legs on Thursday (21 p.m.)

Europa League
Aston Villa – Nottingham (First leg: 0:1)
SC Freiburg – Braga (1:2)

Conference League
Crystal Palace – Shakthar (3:1)
Racing Strasbourg – Rayo Vallecano (0:1)

Keywords Soccer Europa League Conference League European Cup