Ramos still has eyes on UEFA hat-trick

07/12/2007 16:51

By Clare Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur coach Juande Ramos took another step towards a hat-trick of UEFA Cups when the London side qualified from the group stage after a 1-1 draw at Anderlecht on Thursday.

Tottenham were joined in the knockout rounds by Bayer Leverkusen, Spartak Moscow, FC Zurich and Girondins Bordeaux. Bordeaux beat Helsingborg, who had already qualified, 2-1.

Ramos, who took over at Spurs in October, won the trophy for the last two years with Sevilla, who have since graduated to the Champions League.

Anderlecht, who lost the UEFA Cup final to Tottenham on penalties in 1984, scored through captain Bart Goor in the 68th minute. Spurs won a controversial penalty barely three minutes later when Jermaine Jenas went down under a tackle from defender Jelle van Damme and Dimitar Berbatov coolly converted it.

"We need to improve to have a chance of winning this competition. We looked a little vulnerable and a bit lacking in confidence," Ramos said.

The result means Anderlecht are still on course to qualify for the last 32 from Group G with Spurs but must wait until the final round of matches when they meet Getafe, who beat AaB Aalborg 2-1 and are likely to be the other team through from the group.

SPARTAK GUARANTEE

Yegor Titov scored in the 57th minute, turning a Nikita Bazhenov cross in with .....continued below

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his left foot to give Spartak Moscow a 1-0 win over Zurich and guarantee them qualification.

Zurich also made the next round after Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-0 win over Sparta Prague condemned the Czech side as well as Toulouse to elimination from Group E.

Leverkusen won despite playing the last half hour with 10 men after captain Carsten Ramelow was sent off for pushing Jan Rezek to the ground. Manuel Friedrich headed their goal in the 71st minute.

In a very tight Group F, which includes Bayern Munich who did not play on Thursday, Portuguese side Braga scored in the sixth minute at Aris Salonika through Roland Linz. Ronaldo Guiaro made it 1-1 in the 26th minute.

Bolton topped the group and stayed on course to qualify after Gavin McCann’s first goal for the club since his move from Premier League rivals Aston Villa in the close season gave them a 1-0 win at former European champions Red Star Belgrade.

Red Star are out of the running for qualification.

Former Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United striker Henrik Larsson scored his sixth goal in the competition this season to equalise for Helsingborg in Group H after Bordeaux had gone ahead through Marouane Chamakh in the 12th minute.

Larsson, 36, has yet to decide whether to retire after his contract runs out at the end of the year.

Brazilian striker Jussie scored the winner for Bordeaux in the 69th minute. Helsingborg had defender Adama Tamboura sent off for a second bookable foul in the 63rd minute.

Panionios hung on to their chance of qualification in third place from Group H with a goal in added time by Ivica Majstorovic for a 1-0 win at Austria Vienna. If the Greek side win their final game against Bordeaux in two weeks they will go through.

(Additional reporting by Zoran Milosavlevic in Belgrade and Bill Schomberg in Brussels)

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