On Thursday evening, the final four ties of the last sixteen in the UEFA Cup were decided. The round had some spectacular games to offer from which Espanyol Barcelona, Benfica Lisbon and FC Sevilla all progressed from Iberia with AZ Alkmaar from Holland making up the final particpant at the quarter final stage.
Barcelona’ s ‘Little’ club Espanyol had no problems dispensing of Isreal’s Maccabi Haifa with an impressive 4:0 win. The first leg was a scoreless draw. Alkmaars mission was a much more challenging one. The Dutch side had lost the first leg 4:2 in Newcastle but turned the tie on it’s head with a 2:0 home win. The Dutch representatives rode their luck with a number of missed opportunities and a disallowed goal for the English Premier League side. The match of the night took place in Donezk, Ukraine. The home side took the lead with a stunning back heeled effort from Matuzalem but Sevilla had a quick replay. The Ukrainian side took the lead again late on but again the Spaniards found an equaliser at the death. Goalkeeper Palop had advanced forward in the 94th minute and headed home for Sevilla to force the game into added time. Chevaton got was to prove a golden goal for the Spaniards against a drained Schachtjor. The final game of the evening also produced a dramatic finish as a late penalty from Simao made the tie 3:1 and put Benfica through after their first leg 1:2 defeat in Paris.
The draw for the quarter finals will take place in Glasgow at 1pm on Friday, 16.03.2007 with Werder Bremen possibly also facing CA Osasuna from Spain (1:1 and 1:0 against Glasgow Rangers), Tottenham Hotspur (3:2 and 3:2 against Sporting Braga) or Bayer Leverkusen (1:2 and 3:0 against RC Lens). Werder.de will report on the draw and get the reaction rfom within the Werder Bremen camp.