By DPA
Seville (Spain) : A 2-0 defeat of defensive Osasuna put defending champions Sevilla back into the UEFA Cup final.
Goals from Brazilians Luis Fabiano and Renato were enough for Sevilla against their over-cautious opponents, in this one-sided all-Spanish semi-final Thursday.
Sevilla go into their second successive UEFA final – this time against compatriots Espanyol – on a 2-1 aggregate, having lost 1-0 in Pamplona last Thursday.
Juande Ramos’ team are enjoying a tremendous season and could still pull off a historic treble, given that they are just one point behind Spanish league leaders Barcelona and also practically in the King’s Cup final.
“The fans were wonderful tonight,” said Luis Fabiano. “The same as last year, they have really helped us get into the final.”
Renato, for his part, said that “it was the most important goal in my career.”
Osasuna striker Pierre Webo said: “We should really have won the first leg by more goals.”
Webo also claimed that Osasuna “were at a disadvantage” because of the suspension of fellow forward Roberto Soldado, scorer of the only goal in the first leg in Pamplona.
Roared on by the near-capacity crowd in the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, Sevilla dominated right from the start, enjoying 61 percent possession.
Even so, the first goal did not arrive until the 37th minute, when the Osasuna defence failed to cut out a long ball from Duda. Luis Fabiano pushed his way past two slow defenders and beat keeper Ricardo Lopez with a low shot.
Sevilla almost snatched the second goal that they needed before the interval.
However, the crowd did not have to wait long for 2-0 to go up onto the scoreboard. In the 53rd minute, the indefatigable Daniel Alves picked out the deep run of the unmarked Renato, and the latter scored with a deft left-foot volley.
Only at 2-0 did Osasuna come out of their shell, too little too late.
The closest that the visitors came to scoring a crucial away goal was when Webo headed a corner against the post. At the other end, Duda and Frederic Kanoute came close to making it 3-0.
The only bad news for Sevilla was that French defender Julien Escude picked up another yellow card and will miss the Glasgow final.