Hamburg win cliffhanger but go out, Zenit advance in UEFA Cup

Soccer News

Mar 12, 2008, 18:59 GMT

Hamburg - Bayer Leverkusen survived a late furious onslaught from fellow German Bundesliga club SV Hamburg to advance to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup despite losing their second leg round of 16 match 3-2 on Wednesday. The tie ended 3-3 on aggregate after Bayer won the first leg match 1-0 to give Bayer victory on the away goal rule. Goals by Sergej Barbarez (18) and Theofanis Gekas (55) gave Leverkusen the goals they needed, although it was tough going at the end after Paolo Guerrero and captain Rafael van der Vaart gave the home side hope by putting them 3-2 ahead with ten minutes remaing. Piotr Trochowski had earlier equalized for the home side. Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe admitted after the game that his side had been lucky to advance. 'We lost our way in the second half and Hamburg came back strongly. 'I would not say that we really deserved to go through as we made too many mistakes, but at the end of the day, I am happy that we are in the next round and now we want to go as far as we can.' In the earlier game Zenit St Petersburg managed to overcome a 3-1 deficit from the first leg to advance to the next round on the away goal rule after winning 2-0 on the night to tie the game 3-3 on aggregate. After winning the first leg match in France 3-1, the French side were expected to advance to the next round, but two goals by Pavel Pogrebnyak turned the tie Zenit's way. The Russian international striker opened the scoring in the 39th minute after Andrei Arshavin managed to beat the Marseille offside trap with a header to Pogrebynak, whose shot gave Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda no chance. Marseille then managed to curtail the home side's pressure until late in the game, but 12 minutes from the end, Pogrebnyak added a second to see his side through.

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Hamburg win cliffhanger but go out, Zenit advance in UEFA Cup

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