Leverkusen and Fenerbahçe reach finals

Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Fenerbahçe SK were among the teams who progressed to cup finals on a dramatic night of knockout action across Europe, while KV Mechelen required penalties to see off Cercle Brugge KSV in Belgium.

Dutch Cup
FC Twente recovered from a goal down to defeat visitors NAC Breda 3-1 and progress to the Dutch Cup final on 17 May. Anthony Lurling (23) beat Sander Boschker with an angled shot but eight minutes into the second half Theo Janssen volleyed Twente level. Romano Denneboom (78) then put the hosts ahead and, four minutes from time, Blaise Nkufo sealed victory. FC Volendam host SC Heerenveen in the other semi-final on Wednesday.

French Cup
A solitary strike from Moussa Sow sent Stade Rennais FC through to the French Cup final on 9 May at the expense of Grenoble Foot 38. Moussa, who scored the only goal when the teams met in the league on 10 January, struck after 21 minutes, though the hosts almost levelled when Pierre Boya rattled the crossbar. Cup winners in 1965 and 1971, Rennes will play either Toulouse FC or Ligue 2 outfit EA Guingamp in the final.

German Cup
Leverkusen required extra time before eventually running out 4-1 winners against 2. Bundesliga outfit 1. FSV Mainz 05 in Dusseldorf. Substitute Angelos Charisteas (82) looked to have won it for Leverkusen only for Aristide Bancé to head Mainz level with two minutes left. However, in extra time Bruno Labbadia's men turned their dominance into goals with Arturo Vidal (92), Simon Rolfes (104) and Michal Kadlec (117) sending Leverkusen through to a final against one of Germany's UEFA Cup contenders, Hamburger SV or Werder Bremen, who meet on Wednesday.

Turkish Cup
Fenerbahçe drew 0-0 at Süper Lig leaders Sivasspor in the second leg of their Turkish Cup last-four tie, a result which was good enough to earn Luis Aragonés's side a 3-1 aggregate victory and a place in the final. The hosts twice came close to reducing their arrears in the early stages of the second half when Sezer Badur and Yannick Kamanan were denied by the crossbar. The second semi-final between Beşiktaş JK and Ankaraspor AŞ concludes on Wednesday.

Austrian Cup
Second-division FC Admira Wacker Mödling reached the Austrian Cup final with a 3-1 victory against FK Austria Wien's reserve team at Vienna's Franz-Horr Stadium. György Korsos's penalty (63) cancelled out Günter Friesenbichler's eleventh-minute opener for Admira but strikes inside the final 15 minutes from Martin Pusić and a penalty from Friesenbichler confirmed Admira's place in the 24 May final against either second-division leaders FC Wiener Neustadt or FK Austria Wien, who play on Wednesday.

Belgian Cup
The most dramatic semi-final of the night took place in Belgium, where Mechelen defeated Cercle 5-3 on penalties. Mechelen lost the first leg 2-1 but won the return by the same scoreline. Extra time failed to separate the teams and so to spot-kicks, where Olivier Renard saved Cercle's first attempt from Tony Sergeant. Croatian midfielder Antun Dunković converted Mechelen's fifth penalty to set up a final with either K. Lierse SK or KRC Genk with the sides level at 2-2 following the first leg.