Germans in seventh heaven

HAMBURG, NOVEMBER 10: Sparked by a hat-trick from Claudio Pizarro, Werder Bremen cruised into the third round of the UEFA Cup alongside VF...

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HAMBURG, NOVEMBER 10: Sparked by a hat-trick from Claudio Pizarro, Werder Bremen cruised into the third round of the UEFA Cup alongside VFB Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern to assure Germany of a stunning seven representatives in the draw pot.

Bremen claimed a 5-2 win at Belgian side KRC Genk on Thursday and 9-3 on aggregate from both legs, Stuttgart reversed a 1-0 deficit with a 3-1 home win over Austria’s Tirol Innsbruck. Kaiserslautern could afford a 3-2 defeat against Iraklis Salonikafor a 5-4 win from both legs.

Germany now have seven clubs among the 32 left in the event. Bundesliga frontrunners Hertha Berlin and 1860 Munich advanced on Tuesday, while Bayer Leverkusen and SV Hamburg join as third-place finishers in the first group stage of the Champions League.

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Spain could come second with five teams with Rayo Vallecano already through on away goals despite a 2-1 defeat at Denmark’s Viborg. Barcelona are joining from the Champions League, Alaves, Espanyol Barcelona and Celta Vigo playing later.

Italy have a proud UEFA Cup tradition with eight titles in the past 12 editions. None of their first three teams in action won Thursday, but Roma and Parma nonetheless advanced while Serie A frontrunners Udinese crashed out 3-1 on aggregate against the Greeks of Paok Salonika.

But the Germans stole the show on the day. Pizarro was on target with a low drive in the 25th, a 29th-minute penalty and completed the hat-trick in the 45th. He fed Canadian Paul Stalteri for Bremen’s fourth in the 75th and Russia’s Youri Maximov completed the scoring in the 81st.

Genk, who had already lost the first leg match 4-1, scored from Bernd Thijs’ curling freekick for a temporary 1-1 in the 26th and Didier Zokora’s header in the 59th.

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Stuttgart needed two miraculous saves from young goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand to survive 3-2 from both games after a late scare from Innsbruck.

Thomas Schneider (seventh) and a double from Romania’s Ioan Ganea in the 18th and 45th gave Stuttgart a 3-0 half-time lead, but Tirol moved within one goal of advancing on away goals when substitute Jerzy Brzeczek made it 3-1 in the 62nd.

Kaiserslautern scored from Harry Koch’s penalty in the 25th and four minutes from French ace Youri Djorkaeff. Michalis Konstantinou’s double and Ederson Fofonka’s injury time strike gave Iraklis a late win, but it didn’t help them.

The second Salonika club, Paok, claimed a 3-0 upset over the Serie A leaders Udinese for a third round berth.

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Patricio camps headed home a corner kick in the 74th to level the two-legged score at 1-1 and force the 30 additional minutes of play. Stefano Fiore wasted a golden chance for Udinese in the 94th and the Italians were punished for it when camps completed his double with a tight-angle header in the 102nd. Six minutes later Nikolaos Frousos wrapped up matters for the ecstatic Greeks. Parma lost 1-0 at Dinamo Zagreb from Domo Sokota’s 32nd-minute strike, but escaped 2-1 from both games.

AS Roma were also close to going out against Boavista Porto although they had won the first leg 1-0 in Portugal. Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata’s ninth-minute opener was cancelled out by Porto’s Elpidio Silva in the 53rd, and the visitors wasted two first rate chances late in the game from Jorge Silva and Duda.

In other action, Liverpool overcame an early scare to beat Slovan Liberec in their clash in Prague. Jiri Stajner scored after just nine minutes to level matters 1-1 on aggregate, but then Nicky Barmby gave the English the vital away goal on 32 minutes. Emile Heskey made it 2-1 in the 75th, Owen made it 3-1 before David Breda pulled one back with five minutes to go.