Sevilla vs Tottenham is top draw for UEFA quarterfinals

Defending champion Sevilla was pitted against two-time winner Tottenham in Friday's draw for the UEFA Cup quarterfinals.

AZ Alkmaar was drawn against Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen against Osasuna, and Espanyol against Benfica in the other two-leg quarterfinals to be played on April 5 and 12.

The semifinal draw was also made and an all-Spanish or an all-German final on May 16 in Glasgow is still possible.

The winner of Sevilla vs. Tottenham Hotspur will play Bayer Leverkusen or Osasuna next, while AZ Alkmaar or Werder Bremen will meet Espanyol or Benfica.

Sevilla, which leads the Spanish league with Barcelona, made the draw after struggling to beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 late Thursday. Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop scored an injury-time equalizer before Javier Chevanton added the winner in extra time.

That game has boosted the club's confidence, Seville coach Juande Ramos said.

"Sevilla should (now) fear no one," Ramos said, adding that he would have preferred to play the second leg in Spain.

"The English create very good atmosphere at home, and having to play away against them means we're going to have to try to take a good first-leg result."

Sevilla beat another Premier League team, Middlesbrough, in last year's final.

Tottenham, which won the UEFA Cup in 1972 and '84, overcame an early own-goal with two goals by Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov. It beat Braga 3-2, and advanced 6-4 on aggregate.

"It's going to be a very spectacular game because there are two attacking teams with great forward players," said Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli. "They are like us, they are doing well in the league and they are still in the Copa del Rey, as we are in the FA Cup."

Bremen, second in the Bundesliga behind Schalke, travels to AZ for the first leg _ its second Dutch team in the UEFA Cup this year. It beat Ajax 3-0 at home and then squeezed through after a 3-1 defeat in Amsterdam.

"So we get a Dutch team again," Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said. "They are very strong at home and it's going to be very important to get a good result there."

Like Bremen, AZ is also second in its domestic league, eight points behind PSV Eindhoven.

Bayer Leverkusen, the second German team still in the competition, hosts Spain's Osasuna.

"We would have preferred to play the first game away," Leverkusen sports director Rudi Voeller said . "It's going to be a tough job, Spanish teams are always technically strong."

Leverkusen, the 2002 European Champions League runner-up, reached its first UEFA quarterfinal in 12 years with a 3-0 win over France's Lens, overcoming a 2-1 loss in the first leg.

Osasuna beat Glasgow Rangers 1-0 for a 2-1 overall score and its first ever European quarterfinal.

Espanyol, Spain's third team in the draw, beat Maccabi Haifa 4-0 following a first-leg goalless draw, reports AP.

Benfica got a late penalty from Simao Sabrosa to reverse its first-leg defeat and beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in Lisbon late Thursday for a 4-3 aggregate victory.