Werder Bremen proved there is life after Mesut Ozil with a convincing 3-1 win over Sampdoria at home in the first leg of the Champions League qualification match in Germany last night.
Bremen have never lost to an Italian side at home and Thomas Schaaf’s men maintain their proud record which puts them in pole-position for next Tuesday’s second-leg in Sampdoria.
The three goals by Clemens Fritz, captain Torsten Frings and Claudio Pizzaro came just 24 hours after Bremen sold Germany’s rising star and playmaker Ozil to Real Madrid.
Bremen’s loss may be Real’s gain, but the north German club took a big step towards a lucrative Champions League place by seeing off the Italians.
Sampdoria gave themselves a late lifeline as striker Giampaolo Pazzini out-leapt Germany centre-back Per Mertesacker to score a valuable away goal ahead of the second leg, but Bremen are favourites to join fellow Bundesliga sides Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 in the draw for the group stages.
Braga’s dream of a first appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage remains on course after a second-half goal from Matheus gave them a slender victory against Sevilla.
On the back foot for large parts of the opening half, Domingos Paciência’s team responded after the break. The majority of the crowd inside the distinctive Municipal Stadium were in ecstasy on 62 minutes thanks to Matheus’s close-range header, which sets up an intriguing encounter when the teams meet in the return on Tuesday.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv scored three away goals to register a 3-2 win and ensure they hold sway after the first leg against Salzburg, who kept alive their hopes via Roman Wallner’s penalty.
It was visiting keeper Vincent Enyeama who was first to score from the spot and give Hapoel the lead.
Nikola Pokrivac drew level with a vicious shot but Ben Sahar and the menacing Etay Shechter looked to have given Eli Gutman’s charges a decisive advantage.
Wallner, though, gave hope to a Salzburg side looking to avoid defeat by Israeli opposition at this stage for a second successive season.
FC Basel 1893’s bid to reach the Champions League group stage for the third time remains on course after Valentin Stocker’s 54th-minute header put them in pole position of their play-off with FC Sheriff.
The visitors, aiming to make the group stage for the first time in ten straight attempts, made life tough for the Swiss champions but the deadlock was broken in a strong Basel spell early in the second half. Sheriff had Aleksandr Erokhin sent off late on but goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov saved a last-minute Benjamin Huggel penalty to keep his side in the tie.
Anderlecht and FK Partizan will head into next Tuesday’s play-off second leg with their group-stage ambitions very much alive after trading four goals in 13 second-half minutes.
Following a nervy first half the game exploded into life after the restart as the first four shots on target all went in.
Anderlecht struck first, Guillaume Gillet capping a forceful run into the area with a similarly vigorous header but the top scorer in the competition this season, Cléo, claimed his sixth of the campaign and a Jan Lecjaks own goal turned the game on its head.
Partizan celebrations were shortlived, however, as Roland Juhász made it 2-2 meaning it is all to play for in Belgium.
Play-offs, first legs
Played yesterday
Salzburg vs Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-3; Basel vs Sheriff 1-0; Partizan Belgrade vs Anderlecht 2-2; Braga vs Sevilla 1-0; Werder Bremen vs Sampdoria 3-1.
Played on Tuesday
Zenit SP vs Auxerre 1-0; Rosenborg vs FC Copenhagen 2-1; Sparta Prague vs MSK Zilina 0-2; Young Boys vs Tottenham 3-2; Dynamo Kiev vs Ajax 1-1.
Second legs: August 24/25.