Marseille reach Uefa Cup quarter-finals after extra-time
Marseille and Werden Bremen booked their places in the last eight of the Uefa Cup
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Wednesday, 18, Mar 2009 10:40
Marseille have reached the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup but needed extra-time to scrape past Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena.
The French side won the first leg at the Stade Velodrome 2-1 last week but Ajax managed to force extra-time by posting the same winning margin after 90 minutes of the return leg.
However, a goal ten minutes into extra-time from Tyrone Mears, currently on-loan from Derby County, was enough to seal a 4-3 win on aggregate for Marseille.
Eyong Enoh put Ajax level on aggregate after 33 minutes only for Mamadou Niang to restore Marseille's lead in the tie two minutes later.
Miralem Sulejmani then made it 2-1 on the night and 3-3 on aggregate midway through the second half to force extra-time.
Mears scored the vital winning goal after 110 minutes of the second leg to spare his side the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.
Elsewhere, Werder Bremen made it into the last eight of the competition after beating St Etienne 3-2 on aggregate.
The German side held a slim 1-0 advantage going into the second leg at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard and a 2-2 draw on the night was enough to see them through.
Werder did most of their work in the first half. Sebastien Prodl headed home from a Torsten Frings corner after six minutes and Claudio Pizarro doubled their advantage 20 minutes later.
Yohan Benalouane pulled a goal back for St Etienne midway through the second half but Sebastien Grax's goal two minutes into stoppage time was too little, too late for the French side.