Brazilians Seal First Champions League Win

First Team
Thursday, 19.10.2006 / 07:58

Werder Bremen celebrated their first Champions League win of the 2006/2007 season on the third match day of the competition. The Green-Whites deservedly won their tie against Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia 2:0 (1:0).

Werder Bremen celebrated their first Champions League win of the 2006/2007 season on the third match day of the competition. The Green-Whites deservedly won their tie against Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia 2:0 (1:0). Naldo put the home side in front with a free-kick in added time at the end of the first half and his fellow countryman Diego doubled that lead with a strike in the 73rd minute.

 

With captain Frank Baumann suffering from an Achilles problem, Jurica Vranjes stepped in on the right side of midfield with Torsten Frings filling the gap left in front of the back four by ‘Baumi’. Trainer Thomas Schaaf otherwise kept faith in the rest of the side which beat Bochum 6:0 last weekend.

 

Levski keep things tight

 

36,246 ecstatic fans packed into the Weser Stadium to see their club push their guests from early on. Miroslav Klose forced his way through after a pass from Aaron Hunt but from a tight angle, the German international striker could only drive his shot over the crossbar with just three minutes on the clock. Werder had problems trying to break down what was an extremely tightly packed defence which did its job from a very deep position. The 24 time Bulgarian champions left little room for the home side to play in midfield either but never really attempted to attack themselves.

 

In the 19th minute a chance fell, unexpectedly, to Aaron Hunt as Levski defender Topuzakov missed his footing and allowed the young striker a view of goal but unluckily found his lunge too short to connect. Five minutes later, Christian Schulz took on the ball, drove forward and then took on the responsibility to shoot himself and unleashed a ferocious shot which clipped the outside of the post. Soon after the Bulgarians got their first sight of goal. In the 26th minute the Werder defence saw Yovov in an offside position but the referee and his assistant disagreed as Naldo was standing deep. The striker searched the far corner with his effort but dragged the ball a meter wide of the mark.

 

With the majority of the fans having settled for a 0:0 half time result, Werder lifted their game again. Klose somehow made his way past three defenders and passed to Hunt who was denied by the sprawling Sofia keeper (44’). Now in added time at the end of the first half, Ex-Bundesliga man Daniel Borimirov brought down Hunt and the Belgian referee Allaert’s awarded the free-kick 25 meters from goal. One for Naldo. The Brazilian fired in a low drive which was deflected off a leg in the wall and squirmed into the inside of the goalkeeper’s left upright – 1:0, and erratic celebrations to take into the break.

 

Chance for Klasnic

 

Thomas Schaaf decided to switch things for the second half bringing Ivan Klasnic for Pierre Womé to join Klose up front with Hunt and Schulz each slipping back a position to fill the gaps on the left side of midfield and in the left full back position. The second half began with a moment of shock as Domovchijski picked up a loose pass from Vranjes and let fly but failed to test Tim Wiese in the Werder goal.

 

On the whole, the Werder keeper had little to do on the night with them men before him controlling the play against a very passive opponent. Inside of two minutes, the home side had the chance to seal the deal not once but twice. Vranjes nooded a long Schulz throw on to Hunt who unfortunately sliced his shot at goal (57’) and two minutes later Diego tested the Bulgarian keeper with a shot from 16 meters after a solo effort.

 

Diego makes it all clear

 

Werder could have done with a second goal but the nervous finale to the tie against Barcelona never looked likely to be repeated. In the 72nd minute, Thomas Schaaf brought Leon Andreasen into the fray to replace Jurica Vranjes and the Dane had an immediate effect. Andreasen got stuck in and won a challenge in the centre of the park and passed forward to Klasnic who in turn found Diego. With only Petkov to beat, the Werder playmaker held his nerve and slipped the ball past the keeper to score a deserved second for the home side – 2:0 (73’).

 

The match was decided and despite the introduction of two fresh strikers on the Bulgarian side, the visitors never really looked like threatening a solid Werder defence. At the other end, substitute Hugo Almeida had the chance to make it three for Werder but whipped his shot wide of the post after a pass from Diego. A deserved when often unattractive win for the clearly better home side.

 

Johnnie Muldoon

 

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