Fiorentina back into Europa Conference League final

rte.ie:

Lucas Beltran's late penalty sent Fiorentina to a second straight Europa Conference League final as they beat Club Brugge 4-3 on aggregate.

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Last season's beaten finalists took a one-goal lead into the semi-final second-leg tie in Belgium and Beltran's spot-kick cancelled out Maxim De Cuyper's opener to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and earn a final clash against either Olympiacos or Aston Villa.

Club Brugge opened the scoring in the 20th minute when captain Hans Vanaken picked out De Cuyper with a curling cross and the wing-back flicked the ball home to level the tie.

Fiorentina were denied by the woodwork three times. Christian Kouame smashed the ball off the crossbar in the first half and Cristiano Biraghi followed suit from a free-kick in the 74th minute before Kouame's header bounced off a post two minutes later.

But the visitors broke through in the 85th minute when Brandon Mechele caught M'Bala Nzola in the box and Beltran fired low into the bottom corner from the resulting penalty.

Brugge's Denis Odoi was dismissed in stoppage time after receiving a second yellow card as Fiorentina held on to book their ticket to the final in Athens.