Hello all. Well, tonight it’s the big one. Two sides vying for the prize, each one determined to out-do the other. They’ve done the hard yards. They’ve been working for a long time for this. And, yes, the reward might not be all that it once was, the victors won’t be feted like they were in the old days. But they will be the victors. Yes, it’s the General Election! League One play-off semi-final, first legs! Europa League semi-final, first legs!  Napoli are taking on Dnipro in Naples, but we’ll be concentrating on Sheffield United v Swindon Town Sevilla v Fiorentina over in Andalucia.  The Spanish side didn’t have it all their own way in the group stages. They were held away from home by both Rijeka and Standard Liège, lost to Feyenoord at De Kuip and ended up in a winner-takes-all matchday six encounter with Rijeka at the Sanchez Pizjuan, which they won 1-0 thanks to Denis Suarez’s early goal.  The knockout stages have proved no less testing. Borussia Monchengladbach gave them a scare in the round of 32 before the Sevilla ran out 4-2 winners on aggregate. Villarreal were swatted aside fairly emphatically (5-2 on aggregate) in the round of 16, but it took a late goal in each leg against Zenit (from Suarez once more in Seville and Kevin Gameiro in St Petersburg) to ensure their passage to the last four with a 4-3 win on aggregate.  The Viola romped their way through the group stages, winning four and drawing one of their first five games before taking their foot off the pedal and losing at home to Dinamo Minsk in a dead rubber in their final game.  Despite conceding an early goal at White Hart Lane, a 2-0 win in Florence was enough to see them past Spurs in the round of 32 and after a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Roma in the round of 16, a surprise 3-0 win in the Stadio Olimpico put Vincenzo Montella’s side into the quarter-finals. A 3-1 aggregate win over Dynamo Kyiv followed and Voila! The Viola are in the last four.  Fiorentina sit atop a stack of five clubs vying for two qualifying places in next year’s Europa League. Only four points separate the Viola, Sampdoria, Genoa, Internazionale and Torino and the Italians have come off the boil of late, winning only twice in their last eight Serie A games.  Sevilla, like Fiorentina, sit fifth in their domestic league but unlike Fiorentina they still have hopes of sneaking into a Champions League spot. Defeat against Real Madrid at the weekend ended an unbeaten run that stretched back to February.  “We have to pay attention to Mario Gomez, Mohamed Salah, Borja Valero and Marcos Alonso when he gets forward. Fiorentina are coming to the end of a very good season – we are two similar teams, looking at the trophies both clubs have won, so it is an even tie … It is a 180-minute tie and we should be ready for it to last even longer” – Unai Emery, Sevilla  “I don’t think there is a correct way of playing this game as Sevilla are a complete team. They know how to defend, attack and counterattack. They have done very well in Europe in recent seasons so it will be a good match for both teams and their supporters. There will be a good atmosphere which I hope will provide my players with added motivation” – Vincenzo Montella, Fiorentina
Minute-by-minute report: Sevilla put three past a hapless Fiorentina to take a huge advantage into the second leg