STEPHANE MBIA HEADED home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to take Sevilla into the Europa League final on away goals despite losing 3-1 on the night away to Valencia.

An early strike from Sofiane Feghouli and Beto’s own goal had wiped out Sevilla’s 2-0 first leg advantage inside 25 minutes.

Jeremy Mathieu’s goal midway through the second-half then seemed to have Valencia on route to the final, but Mbia powered home Federico Fazio’s flick-on from a long throw to deny Los Che with the last attack of the game.

Inspired by overcoming a 3-0 first leg defeat to beat Basel 5-0 at home in the return in the quarter-finals, Valencia went ahead on 14 minutes when Feghouli cut inside onto his left foot and his shot deflected off Fazio and flew into the roof of the net.

The Algerian international came close again when he was denied by a fine low save by Beto.

However, the Portuguese goalkeeper was unfortunate moments later when the ball rebounded in off his back after he had made a fine save to turn Jonas Goncalves’ header onto the bar.

Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves was then called into action to prevent Sevilla registering a crucial away goal as he brilliantly smothered Jose Antonio Reyes’ effort from point-blank range.

The hosts looked to have sealed their place in the final 21 minutes from time when Mathieu thrashed home after the ball fell perfectly for the French defender from Fede’s corner.

However, Mbia’s dramatic intervention means it will instead be two-time winners Sevilla who will face Benfica in the final in Turin on 16 May.

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

(Sevilla’s Stephane Mbia celebrates)

10-man Benfica resisted a Juventus onslaught in a scoreless draw in Turin to qualify for their second successive Europa League final after a 2-1 aggregate win on Thursday.

With a home final on the horizon Juventus had made winning the Europa League a priority after crashing out of the Champions League earlier this season.

But despite a dominant display at Juventus Stadium, where midfielder Enzo Perez saw red for the visitors with 20 minutes remaining, Juve ultimately failed to find the goal that would have secured their place in the May 14 final.

Juve suffered an early scare when Rodrigo’s shot at the far post was blocked by Stephan Lichsteiner following a corner in the first minute.

From then on the hosts gradually took control but went in for half time lamenting a series of missed chances that fell to Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, who saw two headers at the back post come to nothing.

Benfica seemed intent on soaking up the pressure to strike on the counter and the tactic worked wonders as the Portuguese champions’ defence held firm throughout.

From a corner Carlos Tevez was left virtually unmarked to send a volley from close range just over Jan Oblak’s crossbar.

Just after the half hour Vidal collected to the right of the area to set up Pirlo, whose shot went wide. The Chilean then teed up Fernando Llorente, whose bundled shot met traffic.

Defender Leonardo Bonucci had fans out their seats when he rose at Oblak’s near post to send Pirlo’s free kick across the face of goal with a glancing header, Tevez just missing contact with his outstretched boot.

Benfica had skipper Luisao to thank moments later when he headed Vidal’s bouncing header to safety after Asamoah had been set up nicely by Pogba’s cheeky dink through two defenders.

The players emerged to a deluge of rain for the second half but it did little to dim Benfica’s resolve.

Benfica created two half-chances in quick succession, Rodrigo notably forcing Buffon to rush out at his feet after being put through on the right.

A Pirlo free kick from 30 metres looked to be creeping into the top corner until Oblak reacted quickly.

Minutes later Juve were given what should have been a boost when Perez earned his second caution of the night for hauling down Vidal, but for the remaining 20 minutes the Bianconeri laboured to find an opening.

Tevez was sent through by Asamoah but after dinking past one defender his shot from 20 metres was collected easily by Oblak.

Sensing the danger, Juve coach Antonio Conte reshuffled, replacing Bonucci with striker Sebastian Giovinco on 73 minutes but with 10 minutes the hosts had made little progress.

Conte replaced Llorente with Pablo Daniel Osvaldo and moments later the hosts spurned another opening when Lichsteiner failed to control a piercing cross from the left flank as he ghosted into space to the right of goal.

Osvaldo had the ball in the net on 81 minutes when he volleyed Pogba’s cut-back into a virtually emtpy net but it was ruled offside.

Benfica dug in for the remainder, and a touchline scuffle between Juve substitute Mirko Vucinic and Lazar Markovic prompted referee Mark Clattenburg to issue both with red cards.

- © AFP, 2014

Ireland will take on Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the States this summer>

Louis van Gaal will be named Man Utd manager next week – reports>