Sevilla's fast start downs Spurs
Kanoute scored in both legs to sink his former club
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Liverpool had an easy night at Anfield during their quarter-final second leg encounter with PSV Eindhoven after a 1-0 win handed them a 4-0 aggregate victory. |  |
Thursday, 12, Apr 2007 10:33
Tottenham Hotspur bowed out of the Uefa Cup at the quarter-final stage after Spanish side Sevilla held them to a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane to complete a 4-3 aggregate win.
With Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool making up three of the last four of the Champions League, Martin Jol's side had hoped to add to a glorious week for English football by replicating the feat in their own continental competition.
Overcoming a 2-1 first-leg reverse to the high-flying La Liga outfit was always going to be tricky however, and Steed Malbranque's calamitous own-goal after five minutes gave the hosts an even greater mountain to climb.
The French playmaker chopped an attempted clearance from Christian Poulsen's header into his own net and it soon got even worse for his side thanks to another Gallic maestro.
Former Tottenham striker Freddi Kanoute had slotted home a disputed penalty in the sides' first meeting in Spain and he inflicted more pain on his old club with a slick finish on nine minutes.
The strike left Spurs needing in an improbable comeback of four unanswered goals to advance and Alexander Kerzhakov's crisp long-range effort just before half-time underlined the continuing threat from the visitors.
After failing to make any real inroads into the Sevilla defence for the first hour, Jol threw on Jermaine Defoe in support of the quiet front pair of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane and suddenly the home attack sparked into life.
Within seconds of his introduction, the substitute nudged in a cross from Keane on 65 minutes before Aaron Lennon nipped in for a second two minutes later.
This caused the Sevilla backline to look uncertain for the first time, but despite sustained pressure, and good chances for Michael Dawson and Berbatov, the visitors held on to book their semi-final spot alongside three other Spanish sides.
Espanyol held off Portuguese side Benfica in the away tie after a 3-2 thriller in the first leg. A goalless draw in Lisbon saw the La Liga side through.
Osasuna completed their demolition of Bayer Leverkusen with a 1-0 win on the night, although the hard work was completed in the away leg when they won comfortably 3-0 at the BayArena.
The only non-Spanish team in the last-four is Werder Bremen.
The Bundesliga side, second in the German top flight, saw off the challenge of Newcastle's conquerers AZ Alkmaar with a 4-1 victory in the second leg after a goalless draw in the first match in the Netherlands.