Osasuna, Espanyol win first legs of UEFA Cup
Last Updated: Thursday, April 26, 2007 | 7:37 PM ET
The Associated Press
Underdogs Osasuna and Espanyol both won Thursday in the first legs of the UEFA Cup semifinals.
Osasuna beat defending champion Sevilla 1-0 at home, with Roberto Soldado scoring the lone goal in the 54th minute.
Osasuna's Roberto Soldado, front, and Sevilla's Javi Navarro fight for the ball during their first-leg semifinal UEFA Cup match in Pamplona, Spain, on Thursday.
(Paul White/Associated Press)
Espanyol got goals from Moises Hurtado, Walter Pandiani and Ferran Corominas in a 3-0 win over visiting Werder Bremen — the only team from outside Spain in the last four.
The second legs are scheduled for May 3, with the final at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 16.
Soldado deflected in David Lopez's free kick with a glancing header, leaving Sevilla goalkeeper David Cobeno no chance.
Sevilla, which hasn't won at Osasuna in 15 years, dominated the early stages, but Osasuna then took control.
Osasuna captain Patxi Punal sent a volley wide in the 15th and midfielder Raul Garcia directed a header, which was saved by Cobeno in the 34th.
With the hosts pressing, Sevilla received three yellow cards — to Christian Poulsen, Frederic Kanoute and Jesus Navas — in an eight-minute spell before halftime.
Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano's 50th-minute strike was disallowed for offside, but Osasuna soon regained control.
"We struggled to pick up the pace of the game," Sevilla coach Juande Ramos said. "We tried to create chances at the end but our offensive input was much less than you would usually get from Sevilla."
After Soldado's goal, Osasuna piled forward in search of a second, with Lopez and Soldado both shooting just over the crossbar and Savo Milosevic heading wide.
The game was interrupted for six minutes when Dutch referee Eric Braamhaar was forced to leave the field in the 66th with what appeared to be a muscular injury. Fourth official Pieter Vink took over.
Sevilla is trying to become the first team since Real Madrid in 1986 to win consecutive UEFA Cup titles.
Bremen aiming for second European final
Espanyol took the lead at Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium when Ivan De La Pena passed a short corner to Francisco Perez Rufete in the 20th and the former Spain international lofted the ball into the penalty area for Moises to head home.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 50th, again from De La Pena's corner. This time, the midfielder curled it in and Pandiani, the UEFA Cup's top scorer, met the ball with a glancing header for his 11th goal.
Bremen, aiming for a second appearance in a European final, then had goalkeeper Tim Wiese sent off in the 58th for tripping Espanyol captain Raul Tamudo.
Andreas Reinke, who replaced Wiese and saw his first real action in the 83rd when he deflected Rufete's shot, was beaten four minutes later when Corominas scored Espanyol's third goal following a swift counterattack.
The German team, lacking injured Tim Borowski, Per Mertesacker and Pierre Wome, twice created danger in the opening 10 minutes.
However, Bremen was then forced on the defensive by Espanyol, the leading scorers in this season's competition with 31 goals.
Espanyol midfielder Daniel Jarque had an 18th-minute goal disallowed for offsides, two minutes before the home team took the lead.
Bremen, which lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1992, was denied an equalizer in the 22nd when goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz dived to stop a rising shot by Torsten Frings.
