The Spanish Inquisition

Where the English failed, the Spanish sides succeeded. The Uefa Cup Final this year will see two Spanish sides slugging it out at Glasgow. Both Sevilla and Espanyol went through to the final after winning their respective 2nd legs yesterday night.

Sevilla 2-0 Osasuna (Sevilla goes through 2-1 on aggregate)

Osasuna who has had a fairy tale campaign in the Uefa Cup this season did not managed to defend their 1-0 lead from the first half. In front of a vocal partisan crowd at the Estadio Ramon-Sanchez Pijuan, Sevilla overturned their first leg deficit and ran away winners with a convincing 2-0 win. Their win came courtesy from goals by Luis Fabiano and Renato in each half. Luis Fabiano put the home side into the lead after latching on a long ball from Poulsen; forced his way through defenders before rifling a shot past Ricardo Lopez in the Osasuna’s goal. The 2nd goal came in the 2nd half when a Dani Alves cross was met by a leaping Renato who steered the ball home.The game was an open and played at a frenetic pace. Chances fell to both sides as the action shifted from one to the other penalty area.

Sevilla enters the final looking to defend the trophy they won last season. If they were to be successful they would be the first team since Real Madrid in 1986 to accomplish the feat. Sevilla are also still in the running for the Spanish Kings Cup and the Primera Division.



Werder Bremen 1-2 Espanyol (Espanyol goes through 5-1 on aggregate)

This was mission impossible for Werder Bremen. They come into this tie at the back of a 3-0 defeat in Spain. Nonetheless, they had the best of starts by scoring in the 5th min, when Almeida took advantage of a deflected ball to lob the ball over the advancing Espanyol’s keeper, Iraizoz. The good start suffered a blow in the 19th min when their main goal poacher, Miroslav Klose was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Despite being a man down, Werder Bremen remained the better team right into the 2nd half. In the the 50th min though, they were caught by a counter attack by Espanyol. When a Bremen’s attack broke down, the ball was quickly sent out wide left to Riera. The midfielder’s harmless looking cross was made a mess by stand in keeper Reinke and Corominas was there to punish them for Espanyol’s equalizer. It got worse for Bremen as 10 minutes later, Lazruz nodded home at the far post from a Luis Garcia’s corner. That was the tie dead and buried for Werder Bremen.

So the stage is set for Sevilla and Espanyol to slug it out at Hampden Park on the 16th May in the 2007 Uefa Cup Final.