England on Thursday became the first country to provide two finalists in both European competitions in the same season after Chelsea and Arsenal qualified for the final of the Europa League.
Liverpool and Tottenham had earlier in the week reached the final of the Champions League with semifinal victories against Barcelona and Ajax, respectively.
Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 in a penalty shootout at Stamford Bridge, after a second straight 1-1 draw between the teams in the semifinals.
Arsenal’s path to the final was more straightforward, beating Valencia 4-2 thanks to a hat trick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to complete a 7-3 win on aggregate.
The Champions League final will take place in Madrid on June 1. This is the seventh time two teams from the same country will meet in the Champions League final, and the fourth time in the past seven seasons. It is the second time two English clubs have met in the UCL final, the last coming in 2008 between Manchester United and Chelsea.
The Europa League final will be staged in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29. It is the first time since the 1972 UEFA Cup — when Wolverhampton Wanderers took on Tottenham — that two English teams squared off for the title in any of that competition’s various guises.
Arsenal will likely need to win the game to get into next season’s Champions League, as it probably won’t finish in the top four of the Premier League. Chelsea is already guaranteed a top-four finish heading into the final round of fixtures this weekend.
There is guaranteed to be an all-English UEFA Super Cup in August in Istanbul, as that match will pit the winners of the competitions.
