Falcao bagged a pair as Atletico Madrid completed a 4-2 first leg win over Valencia in their all-Spanish Europa League semi-final at the Estadio Vicente Calderon on Thursday evening.
Atlético were dominant from the start, Falcao grabbing his first after 18 minutes. Jonas pulled one back for Valencia from a set piece just before the break and against the run of play, but that’s cup football.
After the break, Miranda, Adrián and Falcoa added three more goals but just before the final whistle, Ricardo Costa added a second for Valencia and the match ended 4-2.
Atlético are certainly in the driving seat ahead of the return leg but those two away goals for Valencia could yet still prove invaluable.
Sporting Lisbon came from a goal down to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1. The deadlock was broken in the 54th minute when Aurtenetxe put Bilbao ahead, but two goals in four minutes from Insúa and Capel gave victory to Sporting and a slight advantage for the return leg.