Marta steers holders through

Umeå IK maintained their record of reaching every UEFA Women's Cup final by defeating Brøndby IF 1-0 in their semi-final second leg at Gammliavallen to advance 4-2 on aggregate to a meeting with fellow Swedes Malmö FF or 1. FFC Frankfurt.

Scoring debut
Umeå lost the inaugural Women's Cup final 2-0 to Frankfurt in 2002, only to exact revenge against the German side at the semi-final stage en route to a final defeat of Fortuna Hjørring last year. Even without the injured Hanna Ljungberg, Umeå will provide formidable opposition in the final, with Marta ably filling the boots of the Sweden striker. The Brazilian scored the winning goal in both legs of the semi-final, her 34th-minute strike settling today's second leg on her home debut.

Sucker punch
Bröndby entered the game knowing they would realistically need to score at least two goals to cause an upset. With that in mind, Umeå played deeply to absorb the early pressure, limiting their Danish opponents to shots from range as they found the home back line impregnable. Then Umeå caught Bröndby with a sucker punch, Marta firing in after Malin Moström had touched an indirect free-kick into her path.

Large crowd
As it is almost four years since Umeå were beaten at home, a Bröndby comeback was always unlikely. Indeed, it was the home side who created the better chances of the second period, Laura Kalmari, Marta and Anna Sjöström going close in front of 4,893 fans in northern Sweden. "I'm proud of the girls today," said Umeå coach Andrée Jeglertz. "We had a plan which we stuck to throughout the game. It would be great for Swedish football if we were to face Malmö in the final."

Danefeld content
Brøndby coach Peer Danefeld said: "After Umeå scored it was obvious that this was too big a task. However, we did manage to apply some pressure on Umeå just like we did in the first leg. Although we didn't produce any clear scoring opportunities, I feel we matched them in both games and I am satisfied with our efforts."