Falcao double gives Atletico semi-final edge

Atletico Madrid have one foot in the final of the Europa League after a Radamel Falcao double fired the 2010 winners to a 4-2 semi-final first leg win at home to La Liga rivals Valencia on Thursday.

The pacy Colombia striker known as 'The Tiger' nodded Atletico ahead in the 18th minute at a festive Calderon before Jonas levelled for the visitors moments before halftime.

Goals from defender Miranda, forward Adrian and a second from Falcao made it 4-1 before Ricardo Costa netted in the fourth minute of added time to keep Valencia's hopes alive for the return at the Mestalla in a week's time.

"The important thing is that we won convincingly," Falcao said.

"The victory is ours as well as the advantage in the tie so we have done a very good job."

If Uruguayan Diego Forlan was the driving force behind Atletico's 2010 Europa League triumph, the mantle has now passed to Falcao, who scored in both legs of the quarter-final victory over Hanover 96 and has netted 22 of Atletico's 44 goals in La Liga this season.

The winners of the tie will play La Liga rivals Athletic Bilbao or Portuguese side Sporting in next month's final in Bucharest. Sporting beat Bilbao 2-1 in Lisbon on Thursday.