Chelsea have long since been the favourites to win the Conference League, but the two teams seemingly best placed to beat them in a potential final both took a step closer to the showpiece on Thursday.
The Blues continued their 100 percent record in the competition with a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in Poland.
Tyrique George opened the scoring four minutes after the restart with his first goal for the club, with a Noni Madueke double then giving Chelsea complete command of the tie.
Fiorentina and Real Betis are the teams viewed as the most likely to prevent Chelsea lifting the trophy, and the odds of them facing off in the semi-finals improved substantially after the quarter-final first legs.
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Celje 1-2 Fiorentina
Fiorentina are hoping it will be a case of third time lucky in this competition after losing successive finals in the last two seasons.
But the Serie A side found it tougher than they might have expected in Slovenia, and La Viola still have work to do to progress.
Luca Ranieri snuck in the opener from a tight angle in the 27th minute and Rolando Mandragora doubled Fiorentina’s lead with a 62nd-minute penalty.
But six minutes later a spot-kick from Logan Delaurier-Chaubet gave Celje hope of pulling off the upset in Florence next week.
Real Betis 2-0 Jagiellonia Bialystok
Betis, meanwhile, are in a more commanding position after they rewarded for a dominant performance at Estadio Benito Villamarín.
Cedric Bakambu beat the offside trap to slide Betis into a 24th-minute lead, and Bakambu had a hand in the second goal.
Bakambu laid the ball off for Jesus Rodriguez to convert into the bottom-right corner in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
Betis finished with 27 shots to Jagiellonia’s four, with the inability to add to their tally the only disappointment on an excellent night for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
Djurgarden 0-1 Rapid Vienna
Chelsea’s semi-final opponent will come from the tie between Djurgarden and Rapid Vienna.
Rapid are hoping to make their first European final since the 1995-96 Cup Winners’ Cup.
And they received a helping hand in that quest in the 62nd minute when Djurgarden’s Hampus Findell put through his own net to give the Austrian side the edge.
