Europa League Roundup, Apr. 8

Europa League Roundup, Apr. 8

Published Apr. 8, 2010 10:18 p.m. ET

Fulham extended its remarkable run in the Europa League by ousting German champion Wolfsburg on Thursday to reach the semifinals, where it will be joined by Premier League rival Liverpool.

Bobby Zamora scored after 21 seconds to build on Fulham's first-leg lead and send the London club through 3-1 on aggregate.

If Fulham is to reach the final at Hamburg's stadium it must now eliminate the German club, which made the semifinals by beating Standard Liege 5-2 over two legs.

Liverpool will play Atletico Madrid in the other semifinal after overturning a 2-1 first-leg deficit to advance 5-3 on aggregate.

Atletico went through thanks to the away-goals rule, a 2-2 draw at Valencia last Thursday being followed by a 0-0 home draw in the second leg.

The victories for Fulham and Liverpool ensure the world's wealthiest league will continue to have representatives in Europe this season. England's last Champions League hopefuls, Manchester United and Arsenal, were knocked out in this week's quarterfinals.

Fulham couldn't have hoped for a better start in Germany. Zamora picked up a short pass from Zoltan Gera, turned past Jan Simunek and slotted his finish inside the right-hand post to net his 19th goal of the season.

Fulham then withstood Wolfsburg pressure to progress with some comfort.

At Anfield, Liverpool was facing a Benfica side on a 27-man unbeaten run but Dirk Kuyt headed the host in front in the 28th minute, latching onto Steven Gerrard's corner to make it 2-2 on aggregate.

The goal was initially ruled out as the referee's assistant on the right flank flagged for offside. But after Fernando Torres led Liverpool's protests, referee Bjorn Kuipers reversed the decision and Kuyt was able to end a 1,084-minute goal drought.

Six minutes later, Lucas Leiva gave Liverpool a two-goal cushion after completing a swift counterattack.

Having being released by Yossi Benayoun, Gerrard sent a defense-splitting pass through to the advancing Lucas, who rounded goalkeeper Julio Cesar and slotted into the net.

Another lightning-quick break forward saw Liverpool go 4-2 in front on aggregate in the 59th minute. After successfully defending a Benfica free kick, Javier Mascherano dispatched the ball to Benayoun, who raced down the left flank before passing to Kuyt on the right.

The Netherlands forward crossed to Torres, who fired the ball into the net from six meters (yards).

Liverpool looked to be cruising into the last four, but Oscar Cardoza poked a low free kick through the defensive wall to make it 4-3 on aggregate with 20 minutes to go.

Torres netted again in the 82nd by clipping the ball over Jose Moreira, who had just replaced the injured Julio Cesar in goal.

Torres will now face Atletico, which he left in 2007 and withstood late chances and a penalty appeal by Valencia to draw 0-0 and advance on the away-goals rule.

Atletico had the better of the chances until the final 10 minutes, when the home side piled on the pressure.

Valencia striker David Villa hit the crossbar with only David De Gea to beat before the goalkeeper made a reaction save from Nicola Zigic's point-blank header and then tipped over another effort.

Valencia had a penalty shout turned away in the 85th minute when Zigic appeared to be hauled down inside the area. The striker played the final minutes with a ripped shirt from that incident.

Hamburg arrived in Liege leading 2-1 from the first leg. Croatia international Mladen Petric scored two goals in the first half - either side of Igor De Camargo's goal for Standard - to put the German club in further control of the quarterfinal.

Hamburg's Peru international Paolo Guerrero, who was banned for five Bundesliga matches for throwing a drink bottle at a fan, scored the third for HSV deep into second-half injury time.

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