Bremen beat Hamburg 3-2 to reach UEFA Cup final

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Werder Bremen struck twice in the final half hour to beat Hamburg SV 3-2 Thursday and reach the UEFA Cup final.

Werder, who will be without playmaker Diego after he was booked, will meet Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk in the final in Istanbul on May 20.

Werder went through to their first UEFA Cup final on the away goals rule after the semi-final tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Hamburg, 1-0 winners of the first leg in Bremen, went ahead in the 12th minute of the second leg through Ivica Olic before Brazilian Diego levelled after half an hour.

Claudio Pizarro and Frank Baumann then scored in the final 24 minutes with Olic pulling one back three minutes from time.

Shakhtar became the first Ukrainian team to reach the final when they beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 at home for a 3-2 aggregate victory.

In another entertaining and physical match between northern German rivals, Werder squandered a big chance early in the first half when Peruvian Pizarro shook off defender Joris Mathijsen but saw his bouncing header fly over the bar.

As Werder's players shook their heads in disbelief over the miss, Mathijsen quickly fed Olic down the middle and he raced into the box to chip over keeper Tim Wiese.

MASTERFUL DIEGO

Werder levelled on 29 minutes after some quick passing between Pizarro and Diego with the Brazilian beating keeper Frank Rost from close range.

Diego almost grabbed a second minutes later when he unleashed from 18 metres only for Rost, at full stretch, to tip the ball onto the crossbar.

But two minutes later he was booked for a verbal dispute with fellow Brazilian Alex Silva of Hamburg and will now miss the final through suspension.

Hamburg, without suspended striker Paolo Guerrero but with Mladen Petric back fit, came agonisingly close on the hour when Jonathan Pitroipa, in front of an open goal, failed to connect with a Marcell Jansen cross.

Werder struck six minutes later with Pizarro's long range effort that slipped past Rost before captain Baumann headed in a corner seven minutes from time.

Olic's second goal, three minutes before the end, came too late to save the tie for luckless Hamburg, who also went out to Werder on penalties in their German Cup semi-final last month.

(Writing by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Rex Gowar)