adriano sends sevilla soaring published: friday 25 february 2005, 0.15cet sevilla fc 2-0 panathinaikos fc (agg: 2-1) new sevilla signing adriano claro makes a dramatic late intervertion.
by antonio barragán at ramón sánchez-pizjuán stadium
sevilla fc laid siege to the panathinaikos fc defence which held firm until the second half when the introduction of brilliant brazilian adriano claro proved decisive and clinched sevilla's place in the last 16 of the uefa cup and set up a meeting with parma fc next month.
brazilian flair new signing adriano set up a vital equaliser before scoring the winner as sevilla overturned a 1-0 deficit from last week's first leg and sevilla coach joaquín capparós took the unprecedented measure of fielding an unusually attack-minded team with carlos aranda, julio baptista, jesuli and antoñito all setting their sights on the greek team's goal.
full throttle the spanish side took command of the game from the kick-off with baptista in particular full of menace down the right wing. despite plenty of possession they initially found it hard to break down panathanaikos's resolute defensive formation.
aranda chance daniel alves's searching ball left aranda left free in front of mario galinovic in the 18th minute but the striker aimed his effort straight at the goalkeeper. his inaccuracy increased sevilla's desperation to keep their uefa cup hopes alive.
solid defending panathinaikos appeared determined to guard their advantage with their lives and defended en masse which served to add to the home team's frustration. caparrós threw caution to the wind by removing centre-back pablo alfaro in favour of attacking left-back adriano during the second half.
late clincher caparrós's switch paid off when the brazilian crossed to ariza makukula to head sevilla back into contention seven minutes from the end, then secure the winner deep into added time.
