Alaves march into Uefa Cup final

Kaiserslautern, Germany - Alaves cruised through to the Uefa Cup final with a 4-1 win over Kaiserslautern on Thursday for a 9-2 aggregate victory in their semifinal tie.

The modest Spanish side, largely unheralded inside or outside Spain before this, their first European campaign, will play either Liverpool or Barcelona in the final on May 16 in Dortmund.

Two goals from substitute Jurica Vucko (64, 86) and one each from Ivan Alonso (23) and substitute Raul Ganan (88) gave Alaves victory.

But French midfielder Youri Djorkaeff gave the 1998 German champions the start they needed by opening the scoring with a fierce drive from just inside the box after seven minutes.

But the visitors, in a comfortable position after their epic 5-1 win in the first leg, effectively killed the tie when striker Alonso equalised with a header in the 23rd minute.

Kaiserslautern had lost all hope of reaching their first European final when substitute Vucko moved into the penalty area unchallenged to beat Kaiserslautern goalkeeper Georg Koch for the winner in the 64th minute.

Vucko emphasised the gulf in class between the two with their third four minutes from time while Raul Ganan added the fourth two minutes later. - Reuters