Atletico Madrid a step closer to Europa League final

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Atletico Madrid 4 Valencia 2 Atletico Madrid moved a step closer to their second Europa League final in three years as two goals from Radamel Falcao and further strikes from Miranda and Adrian Lopez gave them a 4-2 win over Spanish rivals Valencia in tonight's semi-final first leg. The hosts started brightly and could have been ahead even earlier as Diego Alves saved from Diego and Adrian before the latter showed great persistence to set Falcao up for the easiest of headers to open the scoring on 18 minutes. After that initial burst from Atletico though, Valencia started to gain a foothold in the game and equalised in first-half stoppage time as Jonas swept home Adil Rami's knockdown. However, 2010 Europa League winners Atletico started the second period in even stronger fashion and scored twice in nine minutes as Miranda took advantage of some slack marking to head home Diego's free-kick before Adrian slotted past Alves from a narrow angle. Falcao looked to have all but sealed Atletico's place in the final in Bucharest with a sensational strike from outside the area that went in off the bar 12 minutes from time, but Ricardo Costa headed home from another corner with...