It’s Chelsea vs. Basel, Benfica vs. Fenerbahce in Europa semis

NYON, Switzerland: European champion Chelsea will play Basel in the Europa League semifinals, with the first leg match in Switzerland.
Fenerbahce will face Benfica, with the opening leg played in Turkey, after UEFA made the pairings yesterday.
Chelsea aims to complete an unlikely double by lifting the second-tier trophy as the reigning Champions League winner.
All four semifinalists began the season in the Champions League before being eliminated and dropping into the second-tier competition.
First-leg matches are on April 25, and return games are on May 2.
The final is on May 15 at Amsterdam Arena.
Basel, like Fenerbahce, has reached its first semifinal in any European club competition.
Though Basel has never won a UEFA match in England, it eliminated Tottenham in the quarterfinals on Thursday on a penalty shootout after two 2-2 draws.
Last season, Basel beat Manchester United in the Champions League group stage to advance ahead of the English champion.
None of the semifinalists has won the Europa League, or its predecessor the UEFA Cup. Benfica was beaten finalist in 1983, against Anderlecht.
FC Basel reached their first European semifinals by beating Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 on penalties in the Europa League on Thursday night after a dreadful miss by Emmanuel Adebayor in the shootout.
Clint Dempsey scored an 82nd minute equalizer for Tottenham to send the quarter-final second leg into extra time, which Tottenham survived with 10 men as the match ended 2-2 and 4-4 on aggregate.
But it was all in vain as Togolese Adebayor casually leant back and fired his effort high and wide after teammate Tom Huddlestone had seen a previous penalty saved by Yann Sommer.
Defender Aleksandar Dragovic was hero and villain for the Swiss champions, gifting Tottenham a goal with a blunder in the first half but then scoring with a header while Dempsey scored both goals for the English Premier League side, who were missing the injured Gareth Bale.
Tottenham, the only former winners of the competition in the last eight, went ahead in the 23rd minute following a dreadful mix up in the Basel defense.
Scott Parker played a pass through the middle and Dragovic should have easily cut it out but instead miscued, allowing Dempsey to nip in, round Sommer, and tuck the ball into the far corner with a cool finish.
Basel replied four minutes later when Mohamed Salah burst clear on the right and scored a neat left foot finish, after which the Swiss side took control.
Austrian Dragovic made up for his blunder four minutes after the break, snapping up a rebound to score after Fabian Schaer’s header was parried at point-blank range by Brad Friedel.
Tottenham’s challenge appeared to have fizzled out until Dempsey scored from close range with eight minutes to go.