Soldado gives Osasuna the edge against Sevilla

Osasuna dented Sevilla's hopes of making a successful defence of their UEFA Cup crown when they beat the Andalucians 1-0 at home in the first leg of an all-Spanish semi-final yesterday.

Striker Roberto Soldado scored the winner 10 minutes into the second half when he got in front of two defenders to send a header spinning past Sevilla keeper David Cobeno after midfielder David Lopez had clipped a free kick into the area.

It was a bitter-sweet game for Soldado, who is on loan from Real Madrid until the end of the season, as he will miss next week's second leg after picking up a booking moments before the goal.

Osasuna, who crushed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on aggregate in the last round, were unlucky not to come away with a more emphatic win as Lopez, Soldado and striker Savo Milosevic all went close to extending their side's lead soon after the goal.

The game was held up when Dutch referee Eric Braamhaar tore a muscle in his calf and it had to be restarted six minutes later with fourth official Pieter Vink in charge.

Espanyol thrash Werder

Espanyol took a giant step towards a UEFA Cup final place after securing a 3-0 first leg win over Werder Bremen.

Moises Hurtado headed Espanyol in front in the first half, and soon after the break Walter Pandiani added a second.

Werder were forced to play most of the second half with 10 men after goalkeeper Tim Wiese was sent off for a professional foul outside the area in the 58th minute, and Espanyol stole a third at the end through Ferran Corominas.

Werder, riding high in second place in the Bundesliga, were widely tipped as a favourites for the trophy, but had little answer to the pace of Espanyol's counter-attacks and threat from set pieces.