Source: Team_Talk
Hamburg's Petric sets the Standard
Hamburg booked their place in the Europa League's last four after a wonderful double from Mladen Petric sunk Standard Liege 3-1 on Thursday.[LNB] Leading 2-1 from the quarter-final first leg, the Bundesliga side extended their advantage when Petric opened the scoring with a fine header at Stade Maurice Dufrasne.[LNB]Igor De Camargo levelled matters on the night for the Belgians but Petric added a second for Bruno Labbadia's side with a fantastic overhead kick in the 35th minute.[LNB]Paolo Guerrero - who was banned for five Bundesliga games by the German Football Association earlier on Thursday for throwing a bottle at a fan at the end of his side's 0-0 draw with Hannover last Sunday - rounded off the scoring in injury time. The German side will now meet Fulham in the semi-finals.[LNB]Standard made a purposeful start as they looked to overturn their first-leg deficit and Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez's powerful shot forced an early save from Hamburg keeper Frank Rost.[LNB]De Camargo failed to find the target with a chance but the visitors then stunned the crowd by taking a 19th-minute lead.[LNB]Ze Roberto produced a wonderfully-flighted ball into the box and Petric was on hand to head the ball beyond Sinan Bolat.[LNB]That left Standard needing to score at least twice on the night if they were to have any hope of reaching the last four and they came close to an equaliser when Dieudonne Mbokani's header was saved by Rost. But the leveller did arrive in the 32nd minute as De Camargo nodded in Sebastien Pocognoli' cross from close range.[LNB]But Hamburg hit back three minutes later to effectively settle the tie.[LNB]And it was Petric who struck again with a magnificent overhead kick.[LNB]There appeared to little danger as Dennis Aogo crossed from the left wing, but the Croatian's acrobatic effort left Bolat with absolutely no chance.[LNB]That goal sucked the life out of the home side and they offered little in the run-up to the half-time interval.[LNB]And there was scarcely any improvement in the minutes immediately after the break as Jerome Boateng's drilled effort forced Bolat to parry the ball away to safety.[LNB]Axel Witsel responded with an effort of his own at the other end, but dragged his shot wide.[LNB]But the hosts did finally produce a period of pressure and Mbokani forced Rost to make a sharp save after the forward had been picked out by Benjamin Nicaise's free-kick.[LNB]Hamburg were happy to sit back and invite the home side on to them, and they were coping relatively comfortably with what was thrown at them with Holland international Joris Mathijsen particularly impressive at the back.[LNB]De Camargo and Wilfried Dalmat tried optimistic efforts from distance for Liege but both flew wide as the tie petered out during the final quarter.[LNB]But substitute Guerrero compounded Liege's misery as he coolly slotted home a third in injury time.[LNB]
