Espanyol 2 - 2 Sevilla AET (Sevilla Win 3 - 1 on penalties)

Glasgow city centre was turned into a fiesta yesterday as thousands of Spanish fans from Sevilla and Espanyol flooded into the city for the Uefa Cup Final at Hampden Park. However it was in Sevilla where the fiesta would have continued well into the early hours of the morning as Sevilla became only the second team to retain the Uefa Cup after Real Madrid did so in 1986.

Sevilla’s captain and keeper, Palop, lifts the Uefa Cup.

It was a thrilling game, fit for a major final, that saw Adriano open the scoring for Sevilla after 18 minutes with a lovely finish. That goal was wiped out by the help of a deflection from Alberto Riera only 10 minutes later. However, it was on 68 minutes when the final seemed to turn in Sevilla’s favour when Espanyol’s holding midfielder Moises was booked for a second bookable offence and was shown the red card. Before that Espanyol were in the ascendancy but they now had to shore up their defence to try to hold on to what they had. It worked, as the game went to extra-time.

However, it was Kanoute, the former West Ham and Spurs striker who, in the 105th minute, seemed to end the Espanyol resistance. Kanoute stole into the near post to poke in a low Navas cross. It looked like the game was there for the taking by Sevilla but they missed two more one on one situations with the Espanyol keeper, Iraizoz, who denied both Puerta and Alves.

More drama was to follow when out of nothing and with only 5 minutes remaining, the Espanyol substitute Jonatas equalised to take the Final to the drama of the penalty shoot-out. It was a fierce long range shot that seemed to take a slight deflection but the Espanyol players and fans didn’t mind, they suddenly had hope again!

Jonatas celebrates his equaliser in extra-time

However, after all their hard work clawing their way back into the Final and taking the game to extra-time and a shoot-out, Espanyol’s efforts from the penalty spot were awful.

It was the Sevilla captain, Palop, who had also made some excellent saves during the game that proved to be the hero and broke the Catalan hearts.

So, in a week’s time we will know who Sevilla will play at the beginning of next season for the Uefa Super Cup. Will it be Liverpool or AC Milan. Athens awaits!

The Soccer Blogger

There was yet more violence last night, this time at the Uefa Cup clash between the current holders, Spanish side Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur.

The game itself ended in a 2 - 1 home win for Sevilla, after Spurs had scored a vital away goal through Robbie Keane after only a couple of minutes. However, following the violence on the terraces, Spurs have accused the Spanish police of hitting a disabled fan during Thursday’s Uefa Cup tie in Seville.

It was the second night in a row where local Police have attacked English fans. “Riot” police charged the Spurs supporters half way through the first half of the match as trouble broke out inside the ground.

Spurs club secretary John Alexander has said: “We know one disabled fan was hit with a baton with such force that it knocked him out of his wheelchair.”

Uefa has pledged an investigation but government official Faustino Valdes said drunken Spurs fans were to blame. Well he would do wouldn’t he!

Tottenham have offered their full support to the authorities with the investigation.

“Our initial reports suggest there was no fan-to-fan fighting at any stage of the proceedings,” said a Spurs statement.

“As such we are seeking explanations as to why the police reacted in the way they did with our fans.

“Tottenham supporters have enjoyed an exemplary reputation across Europe this season which is why tonight’s events are unprecedented.

“We will be co-operating fully with Uefa, the British Embassy and the Spanish authorities to understand why this has happened.”

The Spanish police felt it necessary to intervene midway through the first half after the Spurs fans voiced their displeasure at a rather contentious and poor penalty decision the referee awarded Sevilla. The penalty was coolly converted by the ex Spurs forward, Fredi Kanoute.

Unfortunately, the fighting continued during the half-time interval but died down when Spurs officials persuaded the Spanish authorities to take the police out of the away section in the second half. Many Spurs supporters have accused police of over-reacting. I’m afraid I can see why.

“It had been a perfect day up to then but was was spoilt by some over-zealous police officers, who started throwing their weight around, for want of a better term,” said Daniel Wynne, of Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust.

“After the penalty, a couple of fans got a bit excited about that but nothing more than shouting at the pitch. There was no violence.

“Spurs fans weren’t causing any trouble. The police went over and above acting as stewards.”

However, Senor Valdes, the Spanish government’s representative in Seville said: “We have two police who have suffered some serious blows and we also have arrested some (seven) Tottenham fans who should be now appearing in court.”

“Some Tottenham fans under the influence of alcohol attacked the private security officers and police, there were some incidents as security tried to overcome the fans and nothing more.”

“It was an incident surrounding a few people who behaved badly, probably because they had drunk too much.”

Uefa has launched investigations into both this and what happened the previous night in Rome, but communications director William Gaillard said possible sanctions for any of the clubs involved had not been discussed, stating, “Any talk of sanctions is pure speculation, it has not been discussed.”

“The control and disciplinary body is a a fully independent body and we and they will look at the evidence.”

It will be extremely interesting to see what, if anything Uefa do about these heavy handed Police tactics. I, for one, am not holding my breath. Uefa are usually particularly good at being totally ineffective in such matters but no doubt the English clubs will be in for some form of punishment and the Police and their tactics praised!

Call me cynical if you want, but let’s see, shall we?

The Soccer Blogger

It looks as though if Spurs, (Britain’s only survivor in this year’s competition), are going to progress to the Semi Finals they are going to have to do it the hard way. They have been drawn against the current holders Sevilla in the last eight but at least the second leg will be at White Hart Lane. I think most teams would rather have the away leg first.

Should Spurs beat Sevilla they will either meet another Spanish team, Osasuna or German side Bayer Leverkusen in the Semi Final.

AZ Alkmaar’s reward for beating Newcastle last night is a tie against German side Werder Bremen.

Here is the full Quarter and Semi Final draw made earlier today:

Quarter-final draw

AZ Alkmaar v Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna
Sevilla v TOTTENHAM
Espanyol v Benfica

(Ties to be played on 5 and 12 April)

Semi-final draw

Espanyol or Benfica v AZ Alkmaar or Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen or Osasuna v Sevilla or TOTTENHAM

(Ties to be played 26 April and 3 May)

The Soccer Blogger

The current Uefa Cup holders, Spanish side Sevilla, edged into the quarter-finals in a dramatic 3-2 win last night against Shakhtar Donetsk in extra-time.

It was a truly remarkable game. The unlikely player to send the tie into extra time was the Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop and Javier Chevanton scored the vital winning goal on 105 minutes.

The first game in Spain ended in a 2-2 draw and the Spanish side were facing a bit of an up hill struggle to continue the defence of their crown by making it through to the last eight.

Shakhtar struck the post late in the first half before they took the lead four minutes into the second half.

However, only just four minutes later Sevilla were level with a goal scored in similar fashion.

But Shakhtar only regained the lead again on 83 minutes when Matuzalem turned provider for Elano to finish clinically. Before that Shakhtar had actually hit the post again!

Understandably, Sevilla were now throwing everyone and everything forward in search of the necessary equaliser, and it was the goalkeeper who proved be to the unlikely hero when he headed home Alves’ corner four minutes into injury-time.

But there was more drama to follow as Sevilla then grabbed the winning goal at the end of the first period of extra-time as Chevanton accepted a pass from Luis Fabiano to send the holders through 5-4 on aggregate. Quite a game and the holders are through to the last eight again.

The Soccer Blogger

Not a good night for Newcastle United. Their fans must be wondering if they will ever win another trophy again. What do they have to do? I mean the term “sleeping giant” must have be coined with Newcastle and the Toon Army in mind!

With a 4 - 2 home win secured at St James’ Park they must have fancied their chances of securing a spot in the last eight of the competition and maybe that was the problem. Perhaps they didn’t take AZ Alkmaar seriously enough because they outplayed and outclassed Newcastle and I didn’t think I’d say that. But ultimately, it was the two away away a fortnight ago that saw AZ through.

Understandably, the Newcastle manager, Glenn Roeder wasn’t best pleased to let the lead and the game slip through Newcastle’s fingers and he blamed their defensive errors on not being in the hat for the next round.

Roeder stated, “They are not good goals we conceded. Too often crosses come into our box, they are not defended properly and bad decisions are made.

“I have to find defenders who are good enough to play in front of Shay Given. Shay Given is a is a top drawer keeper but he does not get the protection he should get. He is exposed far too easily.

“Too many defenders make too many mistakes that cost us points.

“They do well, you are happy with them and you think they have learnt. Then ‘bang’ they go and make the same mistake again and let you down.” We did not have enough players who came out and performed, which was a surprise and unexpected.

Told you he wasn’t happy!! Go on Glenn, sing us a song!

Bet it was fun in the changing room after the game! On the other hand, the AZ manager and ex Barcelona boss, Louis Van Gaal, must have been delighted at the way his team played and fought back.

The Soccer Blogger