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Featured Sport News

Hamburg hold upperhand

Author: Brandon Barker
Date: 06/05/2009

It's advantage Hamburg and Shakhtar Donetsk in the last four of the UEFA Cup ahead of this week's semi-final second leg ties.

Hamburg were 1-0 first-leg winners in their all-German tie against Werder Bremen away from home.

Meanwhile, online betting underdogs Shakhtar opened up their encounter with Ukrainian compatriots Dynamo Kyiv with a 1-1 away draw.

Of the four teams, Hamburg are now clear favourites to triumph in the Istanbul final as they came out on top of an entertaining encounter and hold a clear advantage ahead of Thursday's second leg at the HSH Nordbank Arena.

Piotr Trochowski headed home the only goal of the game just before the half-hour mark in the Weserstadion, leaving Martin Jol's side in pole position to reach the final.

"Our position is good and we want to reach the final," claimed the Dutch coach afterwards.

However, Werder cannot be discounted as they rallied after falling behind and were perhaps unlucky not to snatch an equaliser on the night.

Thomas Schaaf's side may be struggling in the Bundesliga - they are currently tenth in the table - but the knockout competitions have certainly been their forte this season.

Werder got the better of their local rivals in the semi-finals of the German Cup last month on penalties and that may weigh heavy on the minds of the Hamburg players should their European encounter go the distance this week.

Goalkeeper Tim Wiese saved three of Hamburg's penalty kicks in the domestic cup shoot-out and will be hoping he again has the chance to shine on Thursday.

Hamburg also have the small matter of a Bundesliga title challenge at the back of their minds as Sunday's hard-fought draw with fellow high-fliers Hertha Berlin left them fifth in the table and five points off the pace set by Wolfsburg.

Over in Ukraine and Kyiv have left themselves with a mountain to climb if they are to overcome Shakhtar.

Defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy had put the ball into his own net in the first leg last week to give pre-match favourites Kyiv an early boost, but Fernandinho's second-half equaliser has put Shakhtar firmly in the driving seat.

The two rivals are first and second in the Ukrainian Premier League table, but Kyiv were expected to come out on top as they hold a healthy lead at the summit.

However, with the prospect of becoming the first Ukrainian club to reach a UEFA Cup Final, Shakhtar rose to the occasion and pulled off a shock result.

In a further blow to Kyiv's hopes, Mircea Lucescu's side have also won their last four European home games with an aggregate score of 11-0.

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