Lazio and Porto advance to semi-finals

LAZIO cruised into the UEFA Cup semi finals after two goals in the first 10 minutes guided them to a comfortable 2-1 victory over Besiktas last night.

Italy midfielder Stefano Fiore opened the scoring and Argentine Lucas Castroman headed the second as Lazio built on their 1-0 win in last week’s quarter-final, first leg at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

The Turkish side hit back with plenty of pressure, which was rewarded with Sergen Yalcin’s 83rd minute strike, but Mircea Lucescu’s men ultimately paid a high price for some slack defending soon after kick-off.

Lazio boss Roberto Mancini said: “We had a great first half and that made it easier for us. They gave us a lot of space early on and we made the most of it.”

Meanwhile, Porto’s Vanderle Silva struck in extra-time to secure a 2-0 win over Panathinaikos that sent the Portuguese side into the UEFA Cup semi-finals.

Porto, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, dominated the midfield as they sought the victory they needed against a home side badly missing injured captain Angelos Basinas.

After 16 minutes the visitors got their break when Helder Postiga created space for Silva to score his first goal of the night as he arrowed a shot inside the near post.

Panathinaikos improved as the game wore on with Nikos Liberopoulos performing a stunning turn and shot on the half hour that Vitor Baia tipped onto the bar at full stretch.

Porto were content to defend for much of the second half and then silenced the home crowd in extra-time as Silva broke away from Yourkas Seitaridis to slot home his second.