© EuroFootball.com
On Thursday, the semi-final battles started in the UEFA Cup tournament, but only one goal was scored in the first matches - it was scored by "Steaua", playing at home, which won with a minimal advantage against "Middlesbrough", while the match between "Schalke" and "Sevilla" ended goalless.
At the "Lia Manoliu" stadium in Bucharest, in front of more than 40 thousand spectators, "Steaua" dominated the visitors from England from the beginning of the match, but at the start of the game the hosts struggled to break through the opponent's defense and had only one chance with Nicolae Dica, whose shot flew high over the goal.
Later, "Steaua" players tried their luck with long shots, N. Dica's attempt to score with a header after a corner kick was inaccurate, and on a counterattack Yakubu chose to shoot instead of passing to his teammate and missed. The first goal came in the 30th minute - receiving the ball from Mirel Radoi, N. Dica dodged the opponent and sent the ball into the net with a strong shot.
At the end of the half, "Middlesbrough" almost equalized, but after Yakubu's header the ball hit the crossbar, and after raising the corner kick James Morrison's sneaky shot was saved by goalkeeper Carlos Alberto Fernandes.
After the break, playing at a high tempo, "Steaua" took the initiative again and then it was up to the English goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who saved Dorin Goian's shot with his fingertips, and soon made an even better save after the latter's attempt following a mistake by his teammate Stuart Parnaby.
Midway through the second half, M. Schwarzer almost made a mistake himself, but Matthew Bates rushed ahead of Goian to clear the ball dropped in the penalty area. Towards the end of the match, Peter Marinus shot wide, so "Middlesbrough" held on and kept hope for revenge at home.
Meanwhile, the 1997 UEFA Cup winner, the "Schalke" club from Gelsenkirchen, whose key players such as defender Lincoln and forward Kevin Kuranyi started the match against "Sevilla" on the bench, in the first half struggled to create dangerous attacks and the Spanish goalkeeper Andres Palop had to save only Geraldo Asamoah and Gustavo Varela's attempts.
The visitors failed to capitalize and in the middle of the half Jesus Navas's shot from 18 meters flew wide of the goal, and a few minutes later the "Sevilla" forward attack was blocked by the "Schalke" goalkeeper Frank Rost. Later, after a J. Navas corner kick opportunity, Enzo Maresca had a chance, but he was stopped in time by defender Marcelo Bordon.
After the break, "Schalke" started to play more actively and G. Varela once again shot from distance, A. Palop saved a penalty shot by the substitute Lincoln, and on the other side of the field J. Navas threatened with a shot over the crossbar.
Later, A. Palop saved Lincoln's attempt again, and although the "Schalke" team was left with ten men after Mladen Krstajic was sent off, as the German club continued to attack, A. Palop continued to save the "Sevilla" team - he saved M. Bordon and Soren Larsen's shots and preserved the "dry" match result.
Results
Bucharest 1 - 0 30` [1 - 0] Nicolae Dica
Gelsenkirchen 0 - 0 80` Mladen Krstajic ("Schalke") sent off
