Germany's VfB Stuttgart reached the Cup Winners Cup final Thursday thanks to a 1-0 second-leg semifinal win over Lokomotiv Moscow.
The German side advances to the May 13 final in Stockholm, Sweden, 3-1 on aggregate.
Fredi Bobic, who also scored the first-leg match's game winner well into injury time in Stuttgart on April 2, again proved to be a thorn in Lokomotiv's side as he scored the game's only goal in the 23rd minute in front of a near-capacity crowd at the 24,000-seat Lokomotiv Stadium.
The German international scored in a rare counterattack for the visiting side, getting a nice through ball from fellow striker Jonathan Akpoborie and catching the Lokomotiv defense off guard. That left Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin praying for a miss.
But Stuttgart's top scorer calmly slotted the ball just inside the right post past the onrushing Nigmatullin for his sixth goal in this season's European competition.
"We put in our best effort, but unfortunately it wasn't enough," Lokomotiv coach Yury Syomin said. "The only mistake by our defense in the first half proved fatal for our team as it was very difficult to score twice against such a good club like Stuttgart."
The Russians rarely threatened the Stuttgart defense, which was anchored by Dutch sweeper Frank Verlaat. Muscovite striker Zaza Dzhanashia, who gave the opposition so much trouble in the first match, scoring the lone Lokomotiv goal, was kept in close check this time by the tough German defense.
In the first half, Dzhanashia's only scoring chance came minutes before the interval, but his header sailed wide off the post. In the second half, Lokomotiv had a goal disallowed in the final minutes for offside.
With the win, the Germans have reached a European cup final for just the second time in the team's century-old history and will meet the winner of the Chelsea-Vicenza match, which finished late Thursday. Stuttgart's only other final appearance came in 1989 when it reached the UEFA Cup final.
On that occasion, the German side lost 5-4 on aggregate to a Napoli team inspired by Diego Maradona.
"The final will be a great occasion for the coach and the team," Agence France Presse quoted Stuttgart President Mayer-Vorfelder as saying. "I have been president for 22 years, and we have reached a European final for a second time. That is an incredible achievement."
Mayer-Voerfelder gave his embattled coach guarantees about his job.
"We will continue with Low till the end of the season," he said, quelling rumors that Low was to be axed to make way for Nuremberg coach Felix Magath, AFP reported
On Thursday, the Germans' only disappointments came when defenders Martin Spanring and Verlaat received yellow cards, their second in the competition, for fouls against Dzhanashia. As a result of the infractions, both must miss the final.
Meanwhile, Lokomotiv's loss dashed Russia's final hope of landing a team in the final of a European club competition for the first time in more than 25 years. Spartak Moscow was Russia's other hope, but it lost in the UEFA Cup semifinals to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
The only Russian side to reach a European final remains Dynamo Moscow, which lost the Cup Winners Cup title game to the Glasgow Rangers 3-2 in 1972.
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