Bremen make light of Ozil departure, Hapoel stun Salzburg
German powerhouses Werder Bremen made light of the sale of midfield star Mesut Ozil as they walloped Italian side Sampdoria 3-1 in their Champions League play-off first leg clash.
|Last Updated: Aug 19, 2010, 10:01 AM IST|Source: Bureau
Paris: German powerhouses Werder Bremen made light of the sale of midfield star Mesut Ozil as they walloped Italian side Sampdoria 3-1 in their Champions League play-off first leg clash.
Goals by Clemens Fritz, captain Torsten Frings and Claudio Pizzaro will have eased some of the pain of losing Ozil to Real Madrid on Tuesday albeit they are 16million euros richer for the sale.
Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv edged tantalisingly close to a place in the lucrative group stages with a 3-2 away win over Austrian outfit Salzburg.
The hosts never really recovered from the shock of going behind to a third minute penalty converted by Nigerian international goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who scored several from the spot for his club last term.
Salzburg - who have fallen at this stage on three of the past four seasons - kept their hopes alive with a second-half penalty of their own successfully converted by substitute Roman Wallner.
Belgian giants Anderlecht also did their chances a huge favour with a 2-2 draw away at Partizan Belgrade with all four of the goals in the match coming in a manic 12 minute second-half spell.Among the scorers were the hosts on-form striker Cleo - who grabbed his sixth of the campaign - while Roland Juhasz scored Anderlecht`s second to give them a useful draw.
The other two matches ended 1-0 in favour of the home sides, debutants Sporting Braga and Basel over Sevilla and Moldovan outfit Sheriff respectively.
The latter match was particularly bad-tempered with six players booked, five from Sheriff who also had Aleksandr Erokhin sent off for a second bookable offence.
Basel`s matchwinner was Valentin Stocker, who headed home in the 54th minute, and give them the upper hand as they bid to reach the group stages for the third time and deny Sheriff a cash bonanza yet again - the Moldovans have seen their hopes denied on the previous 10 campaigns.
However, the visitors will be heartened by how they ejected Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb in the previous round.
Bremen are favourites to join fellow Bundesliga sides Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 in the draw for the group stages after their victory over Sampdoria - who gave themselves some cause for optimism with a late away goal by striker Giampaolo Pazzini."I am sure that we will score a goal in Genoa, but it is annoying that we conceded a goal late in the game," said Bremen`s director of sport Klaus Allofs.
Coach Thomas Schaaf admitted he was relieved to see his side score three goals as they maintained their record of never having lost to an Italian side at home.
"We made life hard for ourselves at the start, but we improved after the break and - thank god - we scored some goals," said Schaaf.
Bureau Report
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.