Osasuna look to have the toughest task as they take a slender 1-0 lead over holders and Spanish rivals Sevilla to Seville while Espanyol -- so long in the shadow of city neighbours Barcelona -- travel to German title contenders Werder Bremen holding a near-unassailable 3-0 lead.

There might be a massive 24 points between Sevilla and Osasuna in the Spanish league table but the hosts' impressive Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen is not planning on booking his ticket to Glasgow for the final yet.

Indeed the 27-year-old suffered semifinal gloom last year when his side at the time Schalke 04 lost 1-0 on aggregate to Sevilla.

"I simply don't want to lose a UEFA Cup semi-final two years in succession," he told UEFA.com.

"It's a big motivation, believe me."

Poulsen knows that it is essential Sevilla don't get intimidated by Osasuna's physical approach to the game though, to be fair to the visitors, they showed a lot of flair when they disposed of Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in their quarter-final first leg clash in Germany.

"I think the key will be imposing our style of football at our own stadium.

"They are a physical team that plays a different brand of football to ours. It (the first leg) was very physical.

"I think our main disappointment is that we didn't get an away goal but I am still holding on to the dream of going to the final."

If Werder Bremen needed an historical precedent to encourage them after their dismal performance in the first leg then it is that Espanyol also held a 3-0 lead over Bayer Leverkusen in the 1988 final but then lost 3-0 in the second leg -- when it was played over two legs -- and subsequently on penalties.

No one is more aware of that than Espanyol's scorer of their third goal last week, Ferran Corominas.

"Some of my teammates told me that I shouldn't have scored that goal," he said.

"It sets up a possible repeat of that final all those years ago but this is an experienced side so let's hope we don't let the same thing happen this time."

Werder may have had their minds distracted by the present speculation surrounding their star striker Miroslav Klose with a 15 million euros move to Bayern Munich being bandied around but their general manager and former German international striker Klaus Allofs hasn't given up the ghost yet.

"It's not over yet and we have to take the game to Espanyol and play with the bit between our teeth," said Allofs.

"There is no point sitting back, we must attack from first whistle to last."

Spanish newspaper Marca may have written 'It smells like an all-Spanish final' but there have been enough amazing comebacks in European football to say that there may yet be another twist in the tournament.