Bolton grind out draw to progress past Athletico Madrid
Diouf's first leg goal was enough to send Bolton through
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Thursday, 21, Feb 2008 11:02
Bolton Wanderers secured a remarkable 1-0 aggregate victory against Athletico Madrid by grinding out a 0-0 draw at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.
Athletico are going well in La Liga and were favourites to progress against the struggling Trotters.
But Gary Megson's side were able to frustrate the Madrid team and limit them to few chances and El-Hadji Diouf's first-leg goal was enough to book their place in the last-16 of the Uefa Cup.
Former Liverpool player Luis Garcia had the best chance to break the deadlock but blazed his effort over the crossbar.
Bolton started well and almost took the lead when Stelios Giannakopoulos' shot was tipped over by Madrid keeper Christian Abbiati.
Athletico were without their highly-rated striker Sergio Aguero and seemed to suffer as a result, creating few chances against the resilient away side in the first half.
In the second half, Athletico failed to up the tempo and Bolton held on comfortably until the final ten minutes when they were finally put under pressure from the home side.
Despite the increased efforts of the Spanish side however, Jussi Jaaskelainen was still rarely called upon in the Bolton goal.
Meanwhile, Everton cruised past SK Brann with a 6-1 victory at Goodison Park.
Yakubu helped himself to a hat-trick, Andy Johnson scored two and Mikel Arteta also notched to send the Toffees through to a last-16 tie against Italian side Fiorentina.