No goals scored and two conceded. The initial situation for Werder’s return leg against Rangers at the Weser Stadium could be a whole lot better: “The fear that this could be our last game in the competition is very definite, especially considering how strong Rangers have been away from home”, admitted Werder’s general manager Klaus Allofs, who went on to explain that the Green-Whites certainly haven’t thrown in the towel yet though: “It is quite clear that we are going to have to grind out another one of those exceptional evenings if we are to progress in the tournament.”
So no-one has lost hope yet by a long way: “We are going to have to play very well. We had, what we already suspected, confirmed for us tonight. Rangers are a very strong opponent but we have enough belief in ourselves to feel that we are capable of turning over a 0:2 deficit from the first leg”, explained Thoms Schaaf, who has every fate in his team.
For the moment though, that game will have to be put on the back burner to allow complete concentration to be focused on the VfB Stuttgart game this Saturday – less than 48 hours after the final whistle in Glasgow: “It’s actually a good thing that things carry on immediately. That will help to put tonight behind us and forget that performance. We will have the opportunity right away to prove that we can do things differently and that we can play much better attacking football”, said Aaron Hunt, who can actually see something positive in the packed schedule. In order to achieve the optimal preparation, the flight from Glasgow has been moved forward to Friday morning so that it will be possible to train in Stuttgart in the afternoon.