Football: Bologna stake semi-final claim

THE BALANCE of power between Italian, Spanish and French clubs in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals is still far from decided - with only Italy's Bologna being overwhelming winners on Tuesday.

They beat the French side Lyon 3-0, but there was all to play for in the second leg of the three other matches, which all had 2-1 scorelines. Roma fell at Atletico Madrid, Marseilles beat Celta Vigo at the Stade Velodrome and Bordeaux won at home against Parma.

It was two goals from Florian Maurice that earned Marseilles their win over Celta Vigo as the Riviera club kept on course to repeat their European glory days. Maurice scored in the 33rd and 67th minutes with the Russian Alexander Mostovoi equalising in the 64th minute.

Vigo have already proved their pedigree to beat two former European Cup winners in Liverpool and Aston Villa in previous rounds.

Atletico Madrid dominated Roma but had to settle for a 2-1 victory over the Italians in a gritty match. Romero Jose Mari opened the scoring in the 13th minute and Roberto made it 2-0 just minutes into the second half, while Roma failed to create a single clear chance. But their international midfielder, Luigi Di Biagio, conjured a goal out of nothing in the 75th minute, blasting a 30-yard free-kick into Atletico's net to give Roma a chance in the second leg.

Giuseppe Signori all but booked Bologna's place in the last four after engineering a convincing victory over Lyon. Signori scored a goal in each half and then set up the third for Jonatan Binotto.

A late goal by Argentinian striker Hernan Crespo gave Parma hope for a semi-final berth following their defeat at Bordeaux. Johan Micoud and then Sylvain Wiltord put Bordeaux 2-0 up just before half time and everything looked to be going wrong for Parma when their captain, Antonio Benarrivo, was sent off for his second yellow card with eight minutes to go. But substitute Crespo, who has 15 goals to put him second in Italy's top scorers this season, earned a valuable away goal with seconds of the match remaining.

The Bordeaux coach, Elie Baup, said afterwards: "I still believe we can make it to the semi-finals as we have never lost away in the Uefa Cup all season.