Braga reach Champions League for first time

LONDON (AP):

Rodrigo Lima scored a hat-trick yesterday to lead Braga to a 4-3 win at Sevilla, that put the Portuguese club into the European club football's Champions League for the first time.

Matheus followed his goal in last week's 1-0 first-leg victory with a low shot into the bottom right corner, before substitute Lima put Braga 2-0 up from close range.

Sevilla got a goal back and then drew level in the 84th, but Lima went straight up the other end to score just seconds later. The Brazilian striker completed his hat-trick, before a last-minute goal by Sevilla's Frederic Kanoute made it 5-3 on aggregate to Braga.

"We played two great games and last year we had a great season in Portugal," Braga coach Domingos Paciencia said. "Braga were superior."

Sevilla won the second-tier UEFA Cup in 2006 and '07 and have been in the Champions League two of the past three seasons.

Werder Bremen scored in extra time to advance and will be joined in tomorrow's group stage draw by Hapoel Tel Aviv, Basel and Partizan Belgrade.

Bremen were 3-0 down in injury time and on the verge of elimination until Markus Rosenberg scored to take the match at Sampdoria into extra time.

The goal appeared to reinvigorate the German side. Marko Marin hit the bar in extra time before Claudio Pizarro struck from about 25 yards to put Bremen 5-4 ahead over two matches.

Eran Zahavi scored in the last minute to give Hapoel Tel Aviv a 1-1 draw against Salzburg and a 4-3 aggregate win, Basel won 3-0 at Sheriff and Partizan advanced past Anderlecht 3-2 in a shoot-out after a 2-2 draw in Belgium left the sides tied 4-4.