UEFA Cup – All-Spanish finals in Sevilla's dream season

Sevilla v Espanyol, UEFA Cup Final 2007, Glasgow, Scotland

Ozren Podnar

The holders Sevilla and Espanyol have qualified for the first UEFA Cup finals between clubs from the same country in nine years.

Sevilla saw off Osasuna at Sánchez Pizjuán 2-0, overturning the single goal deficit from Pamplona to become the seventh team to play two consecutive finals of the UEFA Cup or its predecess the Inter-Cities Fairs' Cup. Only Valencia have played three finals in a row, from 1962 to 1964, winning the first two clashes against Barcelona and Dinamo Zagreb, and losing the third to Real Zaragoza.

Other clubs that made it to the finals in successive seasons include Leeds United (1967 and 1968), Borussia Mönchengladbach (1979 and 1980), Anderlecht (1983 and 1984) and Inter Milan (1997 and 1998), all of them winning and losing once.

Last season Sevilla defeated Middlesbrough by 4-0 in Eindhoven and if they repeat the success on May 16 in Glasgow, they will become only the fourth team to hold the trophy for two successive seasons. Only Spanish teams have managed that: Barcelona did it in 1958 and 1960, Valencia in 1962 and 1963 and Real Madrid in 1985 and 1986.

In the other tie, Espanyol broke the curse that has haunted them for 19 years. In the match against Werder Bremen, the second Barcelona team held on to their 3-0 advantage, which had proven insufficient in the 1988 finals against Bayer Leverkusen. On that occasion, Espanyol were beaten by 3-0 in 120 minutes before losing 3-2 on penalties.

The finals in Glasgow will be the fourth between Spanish clubs in the UEFA/Fairs' Cup and the first in 41 years. In the previous Spanish-only finals, Barcelona came from behind to overpower Real Zaragoza by 4-3 on aggregate.

Italian clubs also met four times in single-nation finals, while the English and German sides produced a fratricidal final game once each.

UEFA Cup 2006-07 Quarterfinal results

1st 2nd

Sevilla – Tottenham 2-1 2-2
Bayer – Osasuna 0-3 0-1
AZ Alkmaar - Werder 0-0 1-4
Espanyol – Benfica 3-2 0-0

UEFA Cup 2006-07 Semifinal results

1st 2nd

Osasuna – Sevilla 1-0 0-2
Espanyol – Werder 3-0 2-1

Single-nation UEFA/Fairs' Cup finals

1962 Valencia – Barcelona 6-2 1-1
1964 Zaragoza – Valencia 2-1
1966 Barcelona – Zaragoza 0-1 4-2
1972 Tottenham – Wolverhampton 2-1 1-1
1980 Eintracht (F) – Borussia (M) 2-3 1-0
1990 Juventus – Fiorentina 3-1 0-0
1991 Inter – Roma 2-0 0-1
1995 Parma – Juventus 1-0 1-1
1998 Inter – Lazio 3-0
2007 Sevilla – Espanyol

Ozren Podnar

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