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"Cheers to that!" - Bayern Munich's Klose, Toni & Ribery

UEFA Cup - No Home Comfort

The second leg of the quarter finals of the Uefa Cup may have failed to provide a home victory but it definitely provided a heap of talking points. An early red card, away goals and extra time were the order of the day and that was in only one match. With the tournament down to the final four teams, the favourites remain in contention but any team has reason to believe they will triumph in Manchester.

The Getafe v Bayern Munich match may have caused the most surprise at the way the evening turned out and when De la Red was sent off inside the opening ten minutes, the odds were in Bayern's favour. A home goal on the stroke of half-time looked to have won it before a late equaliser took the game to extra-time where the extra man of Bayern should have told. Amazingly, Getafe raced into a 3-1 lead but yet again, Bayern recovered with two late Luca Toni goals to put them through on away goals.

All exciting stuff but what does it say about Bayern's chances of clinching the trophy? Some will point to the 3 goals lost to a team with 10 men as a sign that there are weaknesses for other teams to exploit. After last years disastrous campaign by their standards, Bayern vowed to win everything they could this year and their never say die spirit says they will be in the hunt.

In Frank Ribery and Luca Toni, Bayern contain two of the most important players in the tournament and when it comes to the crunch, these are the players who win games. If either of these two hit form in the semi-final, it may prove the difference and give Bayern a place in the final. With the Bundesliga looking secure, Bayern should be able to focus on the Uefa Cup and prove that last year’¯ trophy drought was a one-off.

Bayern's opponents in the semi final will be Zenit St Peterburg who lost their home match to Bayer Leverkusen 1-0. No one is happy to lose a home match but when you win the away leg by a margin of 4-1, it is easy to write the return leg score off with little importance.

Zenit are in the curious position of having just started their league campaign so conceivably they should be fresher than their rivals but whether this hands them any advantage is difficult to judge. Many top European sides now condition their squad to reach their peak fitness in April and May which could negate the freshness of the Russian team but for a team who clinched their domestic title after being written off, it would be unwise to say they have no chance of upsetting the odds again.

This match-up looks likely to provide the more flowing football that is attractive to watch but whilst the other semi-final may be lacking in excitement, it could well provide the more nail-biting finish.

Rangers are at home in the semi-final first leg and this definitely suits their style of play and tactics. Captain Barry Ferguson and midfield hacker Kevin Thomson are out of the home-tie and what impact this has on the team remains to be seen. Ferguson is their driving force but has been hampered with injuries of late and this may allow Steve Davis more freedom. Thomson will be less of a loss but his theatrical style of play has given the team some breathing space at times, which may be missed.

The first leg being at home will allow Rangers to utilise their 4-5-1 tactic with the emphasis on preventing the away goal whilst praying for a mistake from Fiorentina to gift them a lead. Having said that, a 0-0 would not be a disaster for Rangers, especially when you consider the manner of their quarter final victory away to Sporting Lisbon. After soaking up strong first half pressure, Rangers caught Sporting with a text-book counter attack and by the end were worthy of their 2-0 win.

What may further assist Rangers is the chance that they may have sewn up their SPL title by the time of these semi-finals, with much of this down to their great rivals Celtic imploding. Avoiding defeat in their two games at Celtic Park could well seal the title allowing Rangers to fully focus on the Uefa semi-finals and keep their key players fit between both legs.

This is in sharp contrast to Fiorentina who may well be looking at the Uefa Cup as an unnecessary distraction at this point of the season. When you get to a semi-final, every team wants to win but given the choice between Uefa Cup glory or Champions League qualification, most fans would choose the latter. Fiorentina currently sit in the fourth and final Champions League spot in Serie A and could still overtake Juventus for third or be pipped by AC Milan, so they have a lot to contend with. This may see the player’¯ mental approach to the Uefa Cup being less focused than what is required which could offer further encouragement for Rangers. There is no doubt that Rangers will play a robust and hard-tackling game against the Italians, and if the Violets are not fully concentrating, Rangers could find themselves in the final.

There is no doubt that Rangers are notoriously hard to beat, with only Lyon severely punishing them this season and in a one-off final, there is every chance they could cause an upset and win the tournament. For the sake of the citizens of Manchester this may not be advised given the way that Rangers fans rioted when they won the Cup Winners Cup in 1972 but Rangers must be considered a serious bet for the tournament.

An interesting twist could come in the final if Rangers face Zenit as the Russians are managed by former Ibrox boss, Dick Advocaat, although both teams start their semi-finals as outsiders to reach the Manchester final.

The Champions League semi-finals will definitely grab most of the European attention in the coming weeks but the Uefa semis will provide their fair share of excitement. It may be the second best European tournament and the group stages still fail to create any enthusiasm but try telling that to the two sets of fans who will invade Manchester with the hope of seeing their team triumph.

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