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Schalke, Sevilla advance

Schalke 04 made a place in the UEFA semis with a 1-1 draw against Levski Sofia. Sevilla and Steaua Bucharest also advanced.

Published on: Apr 07, 2006 12:53 PM IST
None | By , Hamburg
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Schalke 04 made a place in the UEFA semis with a 1-1 draw against Levski Sofia. Sevilla and Steaua Bucharest also advanced by beating Zenit and Rapid respectively.

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Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi wasted an early chance in front of 53,000 fans, but Levski soon dominated and grabbed a 24th-minute lead.

Valeri Domovchiyski crossed from the right into the back of Schalke's defence and Angelov was on target with a low shot to silence the crowd and give Sofia some hope of an upset comeback.

Schalke did not recover until the second half, with Lincoln ending all doubts with an artistic effort in the 59th after Kuranyi flicked on a throw-in.

"We were a little over-confident. This should not have happened, we wanted to decide the game in the first half," said Schalke forward Gerald Asamoah.

Levski captain Daniel Borimirov said: "We had our chances after the 1-0 lead. But then we got a stupid goal."

Schalke now run into semi-final newcomers Sevilla, who beat Zenit St Petersburg 5-2 from two quarterfinal legs after a 1-1 draw on the day in snowy Russia.

Zenit led from Hyun Young-Min in the 50th before Sevilla's Kepa Blanco took centre stage - for two minutes.

The forward came on as a substitute in the 62nd, scored the equaliser in the 63rd on his first touch after a right-wing cross from Daniel and was then sent off for arguing in the 64th.

Zenit had Ivica Krizanac sent off and it did also not change their fate that goalkeeper Viacheslav Malafeev saved a penalty from Daniel with 20 minutes left.

Former Champions Cup winners Steaua Bucharest were held 0-0 at home by crosstown rivals Rapid, but advanced on the away goal rule from Banel Niculita's fourth-minute strike in a 1-1 first-leg draw at Rapid last week.

Steaua now run into English side Middlesbrough or Switzerland's Basel, with Middlesbrough aiming to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.

The semi-finals are April 20 and 27, the final is May 10 in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

 
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