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Home  » Sports » Osasuna beat Leverkusen, face Sevilla in semis

Osasuna beat Leverkusen, face Sevilla in semis

Last updated on: April 13, 2007 03:23 IST
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Osasuna beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 at home in the UEFA Cup on Thursday to earn themselves an emphatic 4-0 win on aggregate and set up an all-Spanish tie against holders Sevilla in the semi-finals.

Holders Sevilla withstood a brave Tottenham Hotspur fightback to draw 2-2 at White Hart Lane and move into the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Midfielder Juanlu gave the Navarrans a deserved win when he steered in past Rene Adler from close range after the Leverkusen keeper had palmed a Roberto Soldado shot into his path just after the hour.

Despite their comfortable first-leg advantage, the Primera Liga side, who had never got this far in their previous three appearances in the competition, took nothing for granted and dominated their more experienced opponents for long periods.

The closest a toothless Leverkusen came to scoring was when defender Jan-Ingwer Callsen Bracker had a header cleared off the line early in the second half.

Osasuna claimed their biggest ever European away victory with their 3-0 win in the first leg in Germany and should have extended their lead as early as the fourth minute.

But former Real Madrid striker Soldado rushed his shot and lashed over the bar with only the keeper to beat after being put in the clear by Valdo.

The Germans showed little sign of urgency and created almost no danger in the first half, although they finally managed to manufacture a chance five minutes before the break when Paul Freier had a sharp shot turned past the post.

Leverkusen keeper Adler produced a good save to beat out a fierce drive from Juanlu at the start of the second half, but the winger was not to be denied 15 minutes later.

This time he slotted the ball under the outstretched Adler after the keeper had got a hand to a low drive from Soldado.

With a Leverkusen comeback now out of the question, the rain-soaked crowd at the Reyno de Navarra kept their celebrations going right through until the final whistle.

Sevilla withstand brave Tottenham Hotspur fightback

Leading 2-1 from the first leg of the quarter-final, Sevilla seemed to have effectively ended the contest as they tore Tottenham to shreds inside the opening eight minutes.

Steed Malbranque sliced a goalbound header from Christian Poulsen into his own net after two minutes and then former Spurs striker Frederic Kanoute made it 2-0 for the Spanish title challengers after being played in by Alexander Kerzhakov.

Tottenham, who had only lost once in 55 previous European home ties, were left needing to score four goals to go through and they almost got one back five minutes before the interval when Dimitar Berbatov fired wide.

Tottenham manager Martin Jol threw on striker Jermain Defoe midway through the second half and he gave his side a glimmer of hope when he scored with his first touch of the ball, flicking a Robbie Keane shot past keeper David Cobeno.

Two minutes later, Tottenham were back on level terms on the night when winger Aaron Lennon poked the ball past Cobeno.

Tottenham's fans began to sense a great escape was possible and had Dimitar Berbatov not wasted a good chance to put them ahead after being set up by Keane with five minutes remaining their wishes might have come true.

Spurs finished after 10 men as Finnish midfielder Teemu Tainio was sent off in stoppage time. Sevilla held on to set up a meeting with fellow Spanish club Osasuna and stay on course to become only the second team to retain the UEFA Cup.

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Source: REUTERS
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