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Third round joy for Grasshoppers and Servette

Grasshoppers (in blue) were kept in the background by Twente Enschede Keystone

Late goals helped send Grasshoppers Zurich and Servette through to the third round of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

The Zurich team suffered an unexpected 4-2 defeat in Thursday’s away leg but still managed to scrape past their Dutch opponents thanks to last month’s 4-1 victory in Zurich.

Grasshoppers, who lacked concentration, were overwhelmed by the Dutch team right from the beginning of the match, conceding three goals within the first hour of play. But despite continuous pressure from their opponents, Grasshoppers were able to score their first goal, thanks to veteran Swiss striker Stéphane Chapuisat.

Twente Enschede then scored their fourth goal, to level the overall score.

With just five minutes of the match in Holland remaining, the two sides appeared to be heading for extra time but a late strike by Benjamin Mwaruwari helped Hans-Peter Zaugg’s men complete a 6-5 win on aggregate.

Historic victory

Servette will be able to take much greater pride from their achievement in downing former UEFA Cup Champions Real Zaragoza. Although looking dangerous on the break, the Spanish Primera Liga side were unable to turn their pace into real goalscoring opportunities.

Servette had only home advantage in their favour after drawing 0-0 in the first leg. But that turned out to be enough. Supported by a sell-out Geneva crowd, Lucien Favre’s side rewarded the patience of the crowds with a Wilson Oruma goal poached just three minutes before the end of the match.

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