Thursday’s soccer news starts in La Liga, where Yunus Musah subbed out at halftime for Valencia in their 1-1 home draw with Villarreal. Down a goal from the 62nd, Valencia’s Samuel Lino equalized in the 72nd minute. Valencia is 17th in the league with 34 points from 33 games.
“This draw is not what we were looking for,” Valencia coach Ruben Baraja said. “Then, as the game went by, we worked well and we had our moments. The point has its value. Our job was to give it our all and give everything today against a great side, and I think that we have done it.”
Luca de la Torre subbed on at halftime for Celta Vigo in their 1-0 loss at Getafe to a 3rd minute penalty. Celta Vigo played a man down from the 77th following a red card to Joseph Aidoo. De la Torre saw yellow in the 62nd minute. Celta Vigo is in 13th-place with 39 points from 33 games.
Antonee Robinson’s Fulham lost 1-0 at Liverpool to a 39th minute penalty. Tim Ream is injured and will miss the rest of the 2022-23 Premier League season. “Clearly we deserved more from the game,” Fulham manager Marco Silva said. “For me it’s clear.”
Timmy Chandler and Paxten Aaronson were on the bench for Eintracht’s 3-2 win at Stuttgart in the DFB Pokal semifinals. Eintracht plays RB Leipzig in the final. Trailing from a 19th minute goal, Eintracht’s Obite Ndicka equalized in the 51st, Daichi Kamada scored in the 55th, and a Randal Kolo Muani penalty made it 3-1 in the 77th. Stuttgart scored in the 83rd and played a man down from an 85th minute red card.
Sergino Dest wasn’t in the squad for AC Milan’s 1-1 home draw with Cremonese. Trailing from the 77th, Milan’s Junior Messias equalized three minutes into stoppage time. Cremonese saw red six minutes into stoppage time. In Belgium’s Pro League, Sam Vines wasn’t in the squad for Royal Antwerp’s 2-0 win at Union St Gilloise. Jurgen Ekkelenkamp scored in the 20th and Mandela Keita doubled the lead in the 30th. Konrad De La Fuente wasn’t in the squad for Olympiakos in their 0-0 draw at AEK Athens in the Greek Super League playoff round.
Johnny Cardoso wasn’t in the squad for Internacional’s 2-2 home draw with Nacional in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. Gabriel Mercado put Internacional up in the 11th with Nacional equalizing in the 38th. Internacional retook the lead from a Carlos De Pena goal in the 83rd and Nacional equalized a minute into stoppage time.
LAFC will play Club Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final after Leon beat Tigres 3-1 at home on the night, 4-3 on aggregate. Fidel Ambriz put Leon up in the 10th and Angel Mena doubled the lead on the night in the 15th. Tigres’ Raymundo Fulgencio pulled a goal back in the 68th, but Adonis Frias scored for Leon in the 79th minute. Leon hosts the opening leg of the final on May 31 with the second-leg at BMO Stadium on June 4.
FRIDAY’S SOCCER TV
Primeira Liga on GolTV: Casa Pia vs Portimonense at 3:15pm ET.
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Photo by Ivan Terron – AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire – ISIPhotos.com