West Ham waltz into Conference League semifinals, Fiorentina avoid scare

West Ham got two goals from Michail Antonio to rout Gent 4-1 and reach the semifinals of a European competition for a second straight year.

The teams were locked at 1-1 after the first leg, with the visitors taking a 1-0 lead through Hugo Cuypers’ goal before Antonio leveled at London Stadium with a header off a Jarrod Bowen free-kick.

Lucas Paqueta and Declan Rice scored after the break and Antonio added his second for the Hammers.

West Ham reached the semifinals of the Europa League last season.

The Premier League club will next meet AZ Alkmaar after the Dutch prevailed in a penalty shootout 4-1 over Anderlecht to reach the last four with a 2-0 home victory. Their quarterfinal matchup was 2-2 on aggregate after regulation and extra time.

AZ Alkmaar center-forward Vangelis Pavlidis scored twice in the opening 13 minutes to erase Anderlecht’s 2-0 advantage from the first leg.

Pavlidis scored his first from the penalty spot five minutes into the game and leveled the aggregate score only eight minutes later. He was substituted at halftime due to an injury.

Fiorentina had to rely on late goals by Riccardo Sottil and substitute Gaetano Castrovilli to reach the semifinals of the Europa Conference League despite a 3-2 home loss to Lech Poznan.

The Serie A club advanced 6-4 on aggregate after a comfortable 4-1 advantage from the first leg in Poland to meet Basel.

The visitors pulled even at 4-4 on aggregate when Artur Sobiech scored in the 69th minute in Florence. Afonso Sousa and Kristoffer Velde had scored earlier.

Sottil returned the overall lead to the home team 12 minutes from time, with Castrovilli adding one more in stoppage time.

Basel recovered from a goal down at Nice with a late equalizer sending the game to extra time after they split the first leg 2-2. Defender Kasim Nuhu scored the decider in the 98th.