Man City 2 - 1 Hamburg: Victory not enough as City's European adventure ends

MANCHESTER City rediscovered that winning mentality but it was Hamburg who secured a place in the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup.

After being 3-1 down from the first leg, the last thing manager Mark Hughes wanted was for his side to concede an early goal. But that's exactly what happened and Hamburg extended their lead after only 11 minutes.

City failed to deal with a routine cross from Jonathan Pitroipa and Paolo Guerrero took full advantage to score from close range. However they battled back and goals from Elano – with a penalty – and Felipe Caicedo gave them hope.

But City were left cursing their luck as Elano twice saw superb free-kicks come back off the woodwork. To compound City's misery, skipper Richard Dunne was sent off in the second half.

City, though, gave it their all on the night and among those applauding warmly at the end was chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, while Hughes beamed with pride despite the end of their European adventure.

"It was a big night for everyone at the club for obvious reasons," said Hughes. "We needed to make a statement and I think we did that with the level of our performance.

"It was important we came out and showed people there are things happening here and we have ability. When in the future we are able to produce it on a regular basis we will be a very difficult side to overcome. It is the beginning of a long journey."

On his meeting with Al Mubarak before the second leg, Hughes said: "It was fine, I am still here."

After getting off to a terrible start, Elano put City level on the night after 17 minutes when Piotr Trochowski was adjudged to have handled his shot. The Brazilian stepped up and converted the spot-kick past goalkeeper Frank Rost to hand City a lifeline.

It was game on and the bumper home crowd were giving their side tremendous backing. Elano then picked out Stephen Ireland at the back post but the Irishman knocked his effort into the side netting.

City found themselves on the back foot in the 26th minute and Given did well to parry a blistering effort from Trochowski.

Hamburg were not content to sit on their overall lead and Guerrero picked out Trochowski six minutes later but he sent a header into the arms of the goalkeeper. Caicedo made space for himself in the 33rd minute, only to send a soft shot wide of a post. Robinho then skipped into the area and found Caicedo but Rost took the ball off his toes.

It was a good spell for City and they almost took the lead on the night when Elano's thumping free-kick from 25 yards beat Rost but came back off the bar.

City, however, went ahead 2-1 on the night in the 50th minute when Caicedo used his strength to carve out an opening after a clever through ball from Ireland. Caicedo showed good composure to rifle a shot beyond Rost and narrow the margin overall to one goal.

City nearly drew level on aggregate in the 53rd minute only for Elano's free-kick to rattle the post before Caicedo hoisted a shot over the bar from six yards. Rost then reacted superbly to boot clear a shot from Robinho after 59 minutes.

City kept up the pressure and Caicedo found the net a minute later but was ruled to have been offside.

City suffered a blow in the 75th minute when they were reduced to ten men, Dunne sent off after collecting two yellow cards as the tie ended in frustration for Hughes' side and their supporters.

Manchester City: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Zabaleta (Fernandes 77), Kompany, Ireland, Elano (Sturridge 84), Robinho, Caicedo. Subs not used: Hart, Garrido, Petrov, Evans, Logan. Sent Off: Dunne (75). Booked: Dunne, Kompany.

Hamburg: Rost, Boateng, Gravgaard, Mathijsen, Jansen, Pitroipa, Jarolim, Aogo, Trochowski (Petric 73), Guerrero, Olic. Subs not used: Hesl, Da Silva, Ndjeng, Rincon, Schulz, Torun.

THREE AND EASY FOR DYNAMO KIEV

DYNAMO Kiev reached the Uefa Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history after beating Paul Le Guen's Paris St Germain 3-0 last night.

Ismael Bangoura gave the home team an early lead in the quarter-final in Kiev, scoring with a low long-range drive in the fourth minute. PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau scored an own-goal in the 16th minute and Ognjien Vukojevic made it 3-0 on the hour mark to secure the win.

Dynamo progressed 3-0 on aggregate after the first leg finished goalless and they will face Shakhtar Donetsk in the last four after they won 2-1 at Olympique Marseille.

Shakhtar, who won the first leg 2-0, opened the scoring through Brazilian forward Fernandinho and Luiz Adriano sealed the win in injury time.

Werder Bremen drew 3-3 with Udinese in the remaining quarter-final tie to advance 6-4 on aggregate and set up a last-four clash with Hamburg, Manchester City's conquerors. Brazilian Diego was the hero for Bremen, scoring twice.