Maccarone sends Boro through at the death

Boro 4 Basle 1 (Agg:  4-3):   Forgotten man Massimo Maccarone fired Middlesbrough into the Uefa Cup semi-finals as his side …

Boro 4 Basle 1 (Agg:  4-3):  Forgotten man Massimo Maccarone fired Middlesbrough into the Uefa Cup semi-finals as his side produced a stunning fightback to see off 10-man Basle.

The Teessiders looked to be heading out of the competition when Brazilian striker Eduardo increased the visitors' aggregate lead to 3-0 after just 23 minutes.

But a Mark Viduka double either side of the break and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's 79th-minute strike after defender Daniel Majstorovic had been sent off set the stage for the Italian to belatedly pay off a massive chunk of his club record £8.15million transfer fee.

Cup favourites Schalke secured a place in the last four as a 1-1 draw with visitors Levski Sofia proved enough to clinch a 4-2 aggregate win in the quarter-finals.

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Schalke had won the first leg in Bulgaria 3-1 but when Emil Angelov put the visitors ahead in the first half there was just the scent of a potential shock.

A superbly-executed finish by Lincoln in the second half drew Schalke level on the night and put them through to the semi-finals where they will meet Sevilla.

Sevilla drew 1-1 at Zenit St Petersburg to secure a 5-2 aggregate win against the Russians.

Zenit took the lead when Alexander Kerzhakov got the better of Javi Navarro on the edge of the penalty area before cutting the ball back to Oleg Vlasov whose blocked shot rebounded to Korean midfielder Hyun Young-Min to score.

Sevilla substitute Blanco Kepa quickly ended any hopes of a comeback with an equaliser for the Spanish club but was promptly dismissed for a gesture at Italian referee Stefano Farina.

He was joined not long after in the dressing room by Zenit's Ivica Krizanac while Viacheslav Malafeev saved the Russians from losing on the night when he pawed away a penalty from Daniel Alvez.

Steaua Bucharest drew 0-0 against city rivals Rapid to make it into the last four.

That meant Banel Nicolita's away goal scored in last week's first leg match when Rapid were hosts was enough to ensure Steaua went through to the semi-finals. PA