The most unpredictable and enchanting team of the past Champions League hosted its winner. Last year, both matches, “Bremen” and “Barca”, also fell into the same group, ended with the triumphs of the Catalans. Now, “Bremen” had every chance of a mini-revenge. The Bremen took off the bat: already in the 2nd and 3rd minutes, both nominal attackers - the Hunt and Klose - were dangerously beaten on Valdez's goal. At the same time, the attack vector of the hosts shifted to the left all the time. There, the junta, who played the “floating” striker, beat the Oleger over and over again into the penalty area, where Frings missed a real chance, hitting the bar with his left. “Barca” came to its senses only after a quarter of an hour - at first Tyuram calmly eliminated the threat to Klose, and soon Ronaldinho and Eto'O checked how they were doing with Vise's catch. It turned out to be normal, last year it was worse. But for the Catalan kids Iniesta, Deco and Julie, the ball did not stop at all, preferring the neighborhood to the penalty center of the field. However, by the middle of the half, the goat agility of the Bremen had calmed down, and Barca took possession of the initiative, showing total football rhyming with its away orange uniform. By the break, the Catalans gave answers to all the questions of Bremen. It seemed that Barca had completely mastered and the second half would be even more powerful.
However, the guests again lost the advantage to Werder. The owners had to face it: in the attacking actions their midfielders and “one and a half” strikers looked much more convincing. However, this was also explained by the tactics of Barca - it didn’t climb on the rampage, and the regular creators were more occupied with restraining the bossy pressure. However, we note Thomas Schaaf’s find: he built the midfield just according to the Catalan model, where the player acts wider than the scope assigned to him. The best example of this was Borowski, who supported the attack in the center, then replaced the junta on the left.
At the beginning of the second half, the blue-garnet did not present new arguments, fighting off dangerous attacks for authorship by all the same Borowski and Klose. An alarming bell for Frank Rikard was the blow of the best World Cup scorer with his head - ten centimeters above the crossbar. And soon Puyol suddenly became the center of attention. First, the captain of the Catalans in a high jump collided with the flag of the lineman, and a little later, interrupting the supply of the stubborn junta, he sent the ball into his own goal with the toe of his boot. “Werder Bremen” rejoiced and rushed to score again - Puyol had to correct in two minutes, blocking Klose’s strike from five meters.
Nekstati hobbled Eto'o and was replaced by a duet with Julie with Gudjohnsen and Messi. As it turned out later, Rykard released those who should. First, Messi beat three and hit right on the Visa, which immediately made it clear: his individual efforts may well be enough for the return goal. It almost happened - only to help the Argentine prodigy needed a brilliant pass to Deco. The Catalans evened the score a minute before the end, and Deco was partially justified for the colorless game. The Brazilian playmaker hosts Diego looked much better than the Portuguese, although in the end did not become more useful. The game of “Werder Bremen” as a whole was quite consistent with the idea of the level of playoffs. True, getting there is still a big question - now the Bremen need to beat Levski twice and defeat Chelsea at home.
The team of Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, dealt with the champion of Bulgaria. Exemplary away victory: “aristocrats” gave the hosts a play and even allowed them a goal in the end, but inexorably scored themselves. The hat-trick was made by Drogba and, unwittingly, again questioned the coaching innovation of this season - the diamond scheme with two strikers. Enough and one. The multimillion-dollar Shevchenko is still in extras.