Bremen overcome Hamburg to reach Uefa Cup final
Diego was superb for Bremen but will miss the final
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Thursday, 07, May 2009 10:34
A fantastic 3-2 win at Hamburg secured Werder Bremen a place in the final of the Uefa Cup as they went through on away goals.
Bremen lost the home leg 1-0 last week and went down a goal early this evening, but fought back to claim the win and progressed as the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.
Bremen should have taken the lead when a cross from Sebastian Boenisch found Claudio Pizzaro in the penalty area, but he headed over from five yards under pressure from Joris Mathijsen.
Less than a minute later, Mathijsen drove into the Bremen half and released Ivica Olic who calmly lifted the ball over the outrushing Tim Wiese to give Hamburg a 2-0 aggregate lead.
Bremen now needed to score twice to reach the final and grabbed one back before the break. Diego played the ball to Pizzaro and then surged his into the penalty area and Pizzaro played a clever through ball which Diego took in his path and clipped the ball over Frank Rost.
Diego was playing like a one man army and almost got his side a second away goal but saw his vicious 25-yard shot come back off the bar.
The Brazilian playmaker had been inspirational for Bremen in their Uefa Cup run, but will miss the final after receiving a yellow card for a push on Alex Silva.
Seven minutes into the second-half Pizzaro harshly saw a goal ruled out for off-side when he headed the ball into the net.
But the former Chelsea striker was not to be denied and scored moments later when his dipping shot from 20 yards was too hot to handle for Rost, who could only get fingertips on the ball but failed to keep it out.
An unbelievable moment of luck gave Bremen a decisive 3-1 lead on the night. Hamburg defender Marcell Jansen was about to play the ball back to his keeper when the ball hit a roll of paper on the ground and went out for a corner.
Bremen captain Franck Baumann bravely headed in the corner at the back-post despite coming close to getting kicked on the head by the defender on the line.
Olic grabbed a late goal for Hamburg, but it was Bremen who held on to book their place in the final in Istanbul.
Bremen will play Shakhtar Donetsk in the final after they came through 3-2 on aggregate in the all-Ukrainian semi-final against Dynamo Kiev.
Shakhtar headed into the second-leg as underdogs after being held 1-1 at home last week, but found themselves in pole-position to progress after a 20 yard shot from Rodrigues Jadson gave them a 1-0 lead on the night.
Kiev levelled the tie thanks to a goal from Guinea striker Ismael Bangoura, but Shakhtar progressed with an 89th minute goal from Junior Ilsinho.