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On Thursday, the first UEFA Cup semi-final matches were played, in which the hosts celebrated victories. Barcelona's "Espanyol" crushed Bremen's "Werder" 3-0, while Pamplona's "Osasuna" narrowly defeated "Sevilla". In Pamplona, the match started cautiously, with both teams being vigilant. The first serious attack came in the 18th minute, when home team midfielder Savo Miloševičius shot from outside the penalty area after a breakthrough and pass by David Lopez, but the ball missed the target. In the 29th minute, "Sevilla" had a good opportunity - after a corner kick, the ball fell to Julien Escudé, but the Frenchman shot over the goal from about 10 meters away. Towards the end of the first half, "Osasuna" created several chances. In the 34th minute, goalkeeper David Cobeno caught a sneaky header from Juanfran Torres after a free kick, and soon after, Raul Garcia's long-distance shot flew past the crossbar. In the last moments of the half, S. Miloševičius attempted a header towards goal to pass the ball to Roberto Soldado, who was in the penalty area, but the "Sevilla" defenders managed to clear the danger in time. After the break, the home team's pressure resulted in a goal. In the 55th minute, Roberto Soldado scored with a header after David Lopez's free kick. Interestingly, just moments before the goal, the scorer had received a yellow card, which means he will miss the next match. Even after the goal, Pamplona's players did not let up and could have scored more, but D. Lopez's close-range shot went over the crossbar, and R. Soldado's shot from the left edge missed next to the far post. Soon after, the match was briefly paused as referee Eric Braamhaar from the Netherlands suffered an injury. He was replaced by reserve referee Pieter Vink. The pace of the match slowed down after the break. No more goals were scored, and "Osasuna" held on to their minimal lead before the return leg match in Seville next week. Meanwhile, the Barcelona-based "Espanyol" built a solid lead against Bremen's "Werder" in their first leg match and realistically aims to return to the UEFA Cup final after a 19-year hiatus. The hosts scored their first goal in the 20th minute when Ivan de la Pena quickly took a corner kick, passing the ball to Francisco Rufete, who then set up defender Hurtado with a high pass into the penalty area. Shortly after, the Spaniards were saved by goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz, who parried a powerful shot from Torsten Frings from the edge of the penalty area. "Werder" continued to attack until halftime, and Diego's raids caused the Spanish team many problems. After withstanding the pressure, "Espanyol" struck back after the break. Ivan de la Pena passed the ball from a corner to Walter Pandiani at the far post, and he headed it into the goal. A few minutes later, the Germans suffered another blow - goalkeeper Tim Wiese fouled Raul Tamudo outside the penalty area and was soon sent off. Thomas Schaaf had to substitute the second goalkeeper Andreas Reinke for the injured Daniel Jensen. Reinke soon saved Marco Torrejon's penalty kick. In the remaining time, the Bremen team focused more on defense - pulling Aaron Hunt back into a safe position. Despite this, the visitors tried to press their opponents, but as the match drew to a close, they conceded a third goal, scored by Ferran Telechea Coro. The return matches will take place next week.
