Berne: Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid overcame German opposition to reach the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday, while fellow Spaniards Valencia joined them by demolishing AZ Alkmaar.

Sporting completed an all-Iberian lineup by knocking out Metalist Kharkiv, who missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw in Ukraine allowing the Portuguese side go through 3-2 on aggregate.

Athletic, Manchester United’s conquerors in the previous round, played more of the entertaining football which is a hallmark of their eccentric coach Marcelo Bielsa as they drew 2-2 at home to Schalke 04 to qualify 6-4 on aggregate.

Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Hanover 96 with an 87th minute winner from Radamel Falcao, last season’s top scorer in the competition playing for champions Porto, to complete a 4-2 aggregate win.

Adil Rami scored two early goals to set Valencia on their way to a 4-0 victory over AZ Alkmaar as they comfortably overturned a first-leg deficit to win 5-2 on aggregate.

Spain also has Barcelona and Real Madrid in the last four of the Champions League and there is now a possibility that both European finals this season will be all-Spanish affairs.

Atletico Madrid face Valencia in the semi-finals, while Athletic Bilbao, enjoying their best European campaign since reaching the final of the old Uefa Cup in 1977, play Sporting.

The showpiece will be staged in Bucharest on May 9 where an Athletic-Atletico final would pit Bielsa against Diego Simeone, who played under him for nearly four years with Argentina, on the touchline.

Leading 4-2 after their impressive win in Gelsenkirchen, Bielsa’s Athletic side, 11th in La Liga, did it the hard way, twice coming from behind against the Bundesliga’s third place team.

Bielsa, who has also coached Chile, watched the game in his unmistakable manner, either pacing incessantly up and down the technical area or crouching on his knees.