Bremen stun Madrid
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Werder Bremen upset nine-time titleholders Real Madrid 3-2 to leave Champions League Group C too close to call with one match remaining.

Real are still favourites to go through to the knockout round as they still lead the standings despite this loss, level on eight points with Olympiakos, who beat Lazio in Rome.

But Werder Bremen, whose last match next month is away to Olympiakos, put themselves back in contention by moving up to six points with even Lazio, who are away to Real, still in with a mathematical chance of going through.

Real, deprived here of the suspended midfielder Diego, have a woeful record in Germany, this defeat stretching that run to 22 games and only one success.

And Bremen it was who got the perfect start when Markus Rosenberg, who despite scuffing his shot put enough force behind it to get the ball past Iker Casillas, put them ahead after five minutes.

Real, keen to seal their passage to the next round with one game to spare, were back on level terms nine minutes later when Robinho conjured up a magical curling shot to put the ball beyond Christian Vander's dive and into the far corner of the net.

Bremen, on a hot streak after securing their sixth win from seven games in the Bundesliga at the weekend to lie one point off leaders Bayern Munich, regained control five minutes from the interval.

Rosenberg was at the heart of the move, skipping past a number of Spanish challenges to cross for Boubacar Sanogo to volley into the far corner of the net.

Real were looking anything like nine time European Champions when Aaron Hunt put them further behind in the 58th minute.

The 21-year-old German attacker latched onto a ball pitched over the Madrid defence and he only had to proud it past Casillas with his left foot.

Real reduced the deficit with 18 minutes left on the clock when Ruud van Nistelrooy got his 53rd goal in the competition, chipping Guti's pass over Vander's head.

But the Dutch international's intervention wasn't enough to leave Real with work to do to join their fellow European giants like Manchester United and the two Milans, AC and Inter, in the next round.