Spanish sides keep up Cup tradition
LONDON: Atletico Madrid and Villarreal upheld Spain's fine recent UEFA Cup record by reaching the knock-out phase after 2-0 wins on Wednesday.
It will be joined in the last 32 by Everton, Hamburg SV and Basel, who also successfully negotiated the group stage.
Sevilla, which has since graduated to the Champions League, has won the trophy for the last two years and, with Getafe also in with a chance of qualifying for the knockout round on Thursday, Spain should again have a strong showing.
Villarreal's 2-0 win over Elfsborg Boras with two goals from Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson, knocked the Swedish side out of the competition in Group C. Tomasson should have had a hat-trick but missed a penalty with two minutes to go.
Atletico earned all three points in Group B at FC Copenhagen to join already-qualified Panathinaikos in the next round thanks to Portugal's Simao, who turned a low cross into the net in the 21st minute, and Sergio Aguero, who scored in the 62nd.
Panathinaikos beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0.
Spain's Mikel Arteta missed a penalty for Everton at home to Zenit St Petersburg after half an hour and it took the English Premier League side until the 85th minute to go in front.
Zenit had Belgium defender Nicolas Lombaerts sent off after Iceland referee Kristinn Jakobsson adjudged him harshly to have handled the ball.
Dick Advocaat's side battled hard for nearly an hour with 10 men, but Everton eventually scored through Tim Cahill after a goalmouth scramble to win 1-0 and maintain a 100 percent record.
"It's difficult when you play 10 men. They seem to put all 10 behind the ball and play on the break ... but we persevered," Australian Cahill said.
Everton tops Group A with one match to play.
Nuremburg came from behind to beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1 with 83rd and 85th minute goals from Marek Mintal and is now vying with Alkmaar and Zenit for the other two qualifying places from the group.
Tamandani Nsaliwa's 46th minute goal for AEK Athens against Mlada Boleslav meant it leapfrogged the Czech side in Group C by moving onto five points alongside Fiorentina, which did not play on Wednesday.
Two of the three will qualify after the final round of games in a fortnight's time.
Hamburg SV beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 in Croatia to top Group D with nine points. It ensured its progress with an 88th minute goal from Nigel de Jong and a penalty deep into stoppage time from Piotr Trochowski.
FC Basel joins Hamburg in the next round after a 1-0 win over Norway's Brann Bergen with a 40th minute goal from Carlitos.
Agencies
(China Daily 12/07/2007 page24)
