Hamburg, April 10 (Inditop) An all-German UEFA Cup semi-final match is on the cards after the two remaining Bundesliga clubs in the competition secured 3-1 victories in their first leg quarter-final games on Thursday.
In Bremen, Diego gave Werder Bremen a first-half lead against Udinese before the Brazilian playmaker added a second in the 67th minute. Just two minutes later Hugo Almeida made it 3-0, but Fabio Quagliarella pulled one back for Udinese three minutes from time to make the final score 3-1.
Bremen’s northern Germany rivals SV Hamburg beat the only remaining Premier League club in the competition, Manchester City, by the same score after coming from behind.
Steve Ireland gave City the ideal start after just 34 seconds when he scored from close range, but Joris Mathijsen, Piotr Trochowski and substitute Paolo Guerrero gave Hamburg a comfortable two-goal cushion.
The two German sides will meet in the semi-finals if they go through.
In Paris, Dynamo Kiev managed to hold Paris St Germain to a goalless draw.
In the earlier game Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk secured a 2-0 victory against Olympique Marseille.
Czech Tomas Huebschman (39th minute) and Brazilian Jadson (65th minute) gave the home side a two-goal margin that will give them confidence ahead of the return leg.
Both sides played offensively in the first half and Senegalese striker Mamadou Niang nearly gave the visitors the opening goal in the 36th minute after being sent through.
His powerful shot beat goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov but bounced back into play off the upright.
Instead, it was Huebschman who scored just three minutes later after Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda failed to hold onto the ball during a goalmouth scramble following a volley from Darijo Srna and the ball fell to the Czech, who had a simple task of pushing the ball over the line.
In the second half Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu brought on Brazilian William and the midfielder took just three minutes as he combined with compatriots Luiz Adriano and Jadson to set up Donetzk’s second goal.
Luiz Adriano played a one-two with William before playing across the area to Jadson who side-footed the ball into the goal.
Donetsk could have gone even further ahead, but Mandanda made amends for his earlier mistake as he denied Luiz Adriano and Srna. The return legs will be played next Thursday.
rounak