Toon Look For UEFA Cup Glory As Favourites Slip Up!

Last updated : 09 March 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor
Braga 2 Tottenham 3
Newcastle 4 AZ Alkmaar 2
Rangers 1 Osasuna 1
Sevilla 2 S Donetsk 2
Celta Vigo 0 Werder Brem 1
Lens 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1
Paris St Germain 2 Benfica 1
Maccabi Haifa 0 Espanyol 0


Robbie Keane grabbed an injury-time winner for Tottenham as they beat SC Braga 3-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Cup last-16 clash in Portugal.

Keane had opened the scoring earlier before Steed Malbranque doubled the lead, although Paulo Jorge and Ze Carlos cancelled out Spurs' advantage.

Just as they did in the Barclays Premiership against West Ham on Sunday, Spurs left it late, with Keane keeping his cool this time to put his side in the driving seat to reach the quarter-finals, continuing his rich vein of form in knockout competitions after scoring every round of the FA Cup.

A magnificent injury-time strike by Brahim Hemdani earned Rangers a scarcely-deserved 1-1 draw in the first-leg of their UEFA Cup clash with Spanish side Osasuna at Ibrox.
Hemdani made the most of some slack defending to curl a glorious shot into the top corner from 25 yards after Rangers had been outplayed for much of the last-16 tie.

Raul Garcia headed the opener as Walter Smith's side struggled to defend crosses throughout a wet night at Ibrox. The home side went on to threaten only briefly, until Hemdani gave them hope out of the blue.

A late penalty from former West Brom midfielder Enzo Maresca salvaged a 2-2 draw for UEFA Cup holders Sevilla in the first leg of their last-16 match with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Jose Luis Marti had put the Spanish side ahead from the spot early on, before Shakhtar bounced back through Tomas Hubschman and a Francelino Matuzalem penalty.

But Maresca rescued a draw for Sevilla when he coolly slotted home from the spot in the 88th minute after he had been felled by Olexiy Gay.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen gained the upper hand in their double header against Celta Vigo with a 1-0 win in Spain.

Bremen substitute Hugo Almeida headed the only goal of the game with six minutes to go to make the German side clear favourites to progress through after the return leg.

Daniel Cousin's penalty handed Lens a slender 2-1 win over 10-man Bayer Leverkusen at the Stade Felix-Bollaert.

Olivier Monterrubio handed the hosts an early lead, but the German outfit bounced back through Karim Haggui just after half-time.

Haggui's joy was short-lived, though, as he received his marching orders for a wild challenge on Monterrubio in the penalty area 20 minutes from time.
Cousin coolly dispatched the resulting penalty into the bottom left corner to give Lens the win their enterprising second-half display deserved.

First-half goals in the space of four minutes by Pedro Pauleta and Pierre-Alain Frau earned Paris St Germain a narrow 2-1 victory over Benfica.

Captain Simao Sabrosa had nodded the visitors ahead in the eighth minute at the Parc des Princes, but Pauleta equalised against his fellow countrymen when his speculative centre ended up finding the bottom corner.

And Frau put PSG ahead when he fired home after Bonaventure Kalou had wriggled free of two challengers inside the area and smartly cut the ball back.
Maccabi Haifa and Espanyol were both left to rue a series of missed chances after grinding out a goalless draw.

Espanyol midfielder Moha El Yaagoubi came closest to scoring during an entertaining encounter when his 18-yard drive rattled the crossbar after the interval.