Villarreal 1-0 Liverpool and Donetsk 2-2 sevilla

Villarreal's Adrian Lopez snatched a stoppage-time winner at home to Liverpool to move them closer to a first European final after the first leg of their Europa League last four clash finished 1-0 on Thursday.

Liverpool, who got a taste of their own medicine having scored deep in added time to knock out Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals, looked comfortable before Denis Suarez broke into the box and unselfishly squared for Lopez to sweep home.

In the other semifinal, holders Sevilla had their fingers briefly loosened from the trophy before grabbing a 2-2 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk that left them well-placed to progress.

Sevilla's bid to become the first side to lift the trophy three years running got off to a great start when they opened the scoring through Vitolo after six minutes.

Shakhtar produced a spirited response, though, with goals from Marlos and Taras Stepanenko to lead at halftime before Kevin Gameiro's 82nd-minute penalty left the Spaniards favourites to progress with two away goals.