UEFA Cup 2007-2008

Tottenham and Everton go out with a drama

Ozren Podnar

The English contingent in the UEFA Cup put up a good fight but still went out, albeit in the most dramatic fashion.

Penalties, the disease that usually afflicts the English national team, were fatal for Tottenham and Everton, who bravely equalized the aggregate score against PSV Eindhoven and Fiorentina in the return legs before it came to spot kicks. Bolton came tantalizingly close against the 2005 finalists Sporting Lisbon, but it will be the Portuguese who will take on Rangers, the last British representatives in the quarterfinals.

Rangers, who have had a dream season so far, are chasing four trophies but the strain could prove too much in the final stage of the campaign against Sporting, who are now fully concentrated on the European stage. The last time that a Scottish club made a continental final was in 2003 when Celtic lost to Porto by 2-3 in Seville.

Elsewhere, Bayern will try and confirm their status as the team to beat when they face the Spanish surprise package Getafe. In the previous round, the Bavarians got rid of Anderlecht in a bizarre replica of their 1987 encounter in the European Cup. On that occasion, Bayern beat the Belgians 5-0 at home and drew 2-2 in Brussels in a game which Anderlecht were winning 2-1 until the 90th minute. This time, Bayern ran riot in the first leg in Belgium scoring an amazing 5-0 win but suffered a 1-2 defeat at home.

Round of 32 1st 2nd

Zenit vs Villarreal 1-0 1-2
Marseille vs Spartak 3-0 0-2
Galatasaray vs Bayer 0-0 1-5
AEK vs Getafe 1-1 0-3
Bordeaux vs Anderlecht 1-1 1-2
PSV vs Helsingborgs 2-0 2-1
Rangers vs Panathinaikos 0-0 1-1
Brann vs Everton 0-2 1-6
Werder vs Sporting Braga 3-0 1-0
Sporting Lisbon vs Basel 2-0 3-0
Aberdeen vs Bayern 2-2 1-5
Zürich vs Hamburger SV 1-3 0-0
Rosenborg vs Fiorentina 0-1 1-2
Bolton vs Atletico Madrid 1-0 0-0
Slavia vs Tottenham 1-2 1-1
Benfica vs Nürnberg 1-0 2-2

Round of 16 1st 2nd

Anderlecht vs Bayern 0-5 2-1
Fiorentina vs Everton 2-0 0-2 (4-2 pen)
Benfica vs Getafe 1-2 0-1
Rangers vs Werder 2-0 0-1
Bolton vs Sporting L. 1-1 0-1
Bayer vs Hamburger SV 1-0 2-3
Tottenham vs PSV 0-1 1-0 (5-6 pen)
Marseille vs Zenit 3-1 0-2

Quarterfinals (3rd and 10th of April)

Bayer vs Zenit
Rangers vs Sporting (L)
Bayern vs Getafe
Fiorentina vs PSV

Ozren Podnar

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