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UEFA Cup: Sevilla on track

London: Sevilla kept its UEFA Cup title defence on track while 2005 champion CSKA Moscow was eliminated and Ajax's poor European season finally ended on Thursday.

Sevilla enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 aggregate victory over Steaua Bucharest to reach the final 16. Striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored the only goal of the second leg when he headed past goalkeeper Cornel Cernea in first-half injury time from an Andreas Hinkel cross.

The match marked a disappointing return for Steaua to Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, where it lifted the European Cup in 1986 by beating Barcelona on penalties.

An onslaught survived

Bayer Leverkusen, the 1988 champion, advanced 3-2 on aggregate against Blackburn Rovers to reach the final 16 for the first time in 12 years. The German side was forced to weather a siege upon its penalty area, as Blackburn repeatedly pushed forward in search of a goal. Shabani Nonda and Benni NcCarthy missed golden chances at the end to put the English Club in front.

"We fought well and finished off the job," Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe said. "They knocked a lot of long balls into our penalty area, but we defended superbly to keep them out."

Leonardo, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ryan Babel scored for Ajax in Amsterdam, but it wasn't enough to stop Werder Bremen advancing, as the German club made it through 4-3 on aggregate. Hugo Almedeida got the all-important goal for Bremen.

This left AZ Alkmaar as the only Dutch club left in the competition, as it rallied to draw 2-2 with Turkish club Fenerbahce for a 5-5 aggregate, and advanced on away goals. Maarten Martens and Barry Opdam scored in the second half to counter first-half Fenerbahce goals from Tumer Metin and Alex.

"In the first half, we were losing the ball, we just played badly," AZ coach Louis van Gaal said. "We came back a different side in the second half, unbelievable."

Spanish presence

Osasuna, Celta Vigo and Espanyol were the other Spanish clubs to make it to the fourth round, but there was grief for Italy as Parma and Livorno, the only Italian teams in the third round, both lost.

In Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, the 2005 champion, lost 1-0 to Maccabi Haifa to exit by the same aggregate score. Israel international Roberto Colautti scored the winner in the 14th minute from close range after CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev had stopped a shot from Alain Masudi.

Benfica beat Dinamo Bucharest 2-1 in Romania to advance on a 3-1 aggregate, with Anderson and Konstantinos Katsouranis both heading in goals from corner kicks.

The results:

Sevilla 1 (Kerzhakov 45) bt Steaua Bucharest 0; Blackburn Rovers 0 drew with Bayer Leverkusen 0; Ajax 3 (Leonardo 4, Huntelaar 60, Babel 74) bt Werder Bremen 1 (Almeida 14); AZ Alkmaar 2 (Martens 64, Opdam 87) drew with Fenerbahce 2 (Metin 21, Alex 34); Nancy 0 lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 1 (Fernandinho 70); Dinamo Bucharest 1 (Munteanu 23) lost to Benfica 2 (Anderson 50, Katsouranis 64); Maccabi Haifa 1 (Colautti 14) bt CSKA Moscow 0; Parma 0 lost to Sporting Braga 1 (Diego 89); Newcastle United 1 (Martins 68) bt Zulte-Waregem 0; Paris St-Germain 2 (Frau 42, Mendy 90+1 pen) bt AEK Athens 0; Celta Vigo 2 (Nene 19, Jonathan 78) bt Spartak Moscow 1 (Titov 88); Panathinaikos 0 drew with Lens 0; Rangers 4 (Ferguson 24, 73, Boyd 35, Adam 90) bt Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0; Osasuna 1 (Nekounam 120) bt Bordeaux 0; Espanyol 2 (Lacruz 16, Coro 49) bt Livorno 0 — Agencies

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