The Germans gave us a nice build up! They showed film footage of all our trophies in the "Emporium"; ham and cheese; foggy streets - and interviews with Hernan and Fabio with wet hair! So, then our lads came out to the strains of "Land of Hope and Glory" and holding the hands of little German kinder! Lilian won the toss and elected to change ends.
Werder almost scored from the kick-off - and again, in the 2nd minute (Bode). There were another two shots from them in the 5th minute and (I have written down here) whoops! 7th minute: Thuram made a mistake and they had another great chance. (I have written down here) "They are huge. More shots. Oops!". On 10 minutes, Sartor produced a fine cross which just failed to find either Crespo or Stanic (just failed??). 11 minutes: Ailton's shot was met with a great save from Gigi, but fell loose and fortunately the player who picked it up whooped it way wide. This was followed by a shot from Herzog on 12. A Frings shot on 17 brought a great save from Gigi. (CNN text are calling our Gigi, Claudio Buffon!). Well, by now I was frazzled. I am not exaggerating the number of attempts at goal they had - it was really scary. THEN, on 18 minutes, AT LAST we put together a really good move involving Ortega - but it came to nothing. 19th minute "BODE . . . . und . . . Buffon", meaning that Bode had another shot, but that again, Buffon came to the rescue. 20 mins - another - over the bar - phew!! On 23 minutes, Vanoli made a great run and a fine cross into the box, but the goalie intercepted before Crespo could get to it. 27 minutes: a puny Hernan shot. 29 minutes - goal - Werder Bremen - Dubrowsky the high Pole.
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It was a well worked goal, culminating in a fine finish from the tall striker. It was actually only what Werder deserved after all their pressure. But, on 32 minutes, we equalised! Fuser seemed to become possessed and positively flew up the wing and sent in a wonderful cross, which Stanic scored from with a superb flying header.
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Really great header, Mario! Is your hair green now??
I relaxed a bit. This meant that the Germans had to score a further 2 goals. Surely we would gain confidence from this and go on and perhaps score another. Surely the Germans would hang their heads a little now. Well, we should've scored again - and quickly. Stanic was one on one with the goalkeeper; I was on the edge of my seat "SHOOOOOOOT" - nah! He passed the ball to Ortega who MISSED - but that didn't really matter because he was in an offside position anyway. Oh Mario . . . . . ! Bode scored on 45 minutes.
Half-time score 2-1 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate.
I made fewer notes during the second half! Actually, I missed the beginning, because others were watching the end of the first half of Leeds v Roma - but during the interval, Malesani had replaced Ortega with Dabo. I really do not know why. Sousa was booked. (I noticed also that Crespo has stipes in his hair now (highlights if you like) - and I ain't too keen on that.) On 58 minutes, Ailton (the really abnoxious tubby little Brazilian with the pained expression on his face) missed a sitter. And still they came! Half the time I had my eyes closed - it seemed only a matter of time before they scored again. But it was our own little Fabio who had that honour of scoring the next and decisive goal. In his own net.
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I don't honestly think it was avoidable. It was just one of those things. A corner came in - both he and Ailton were on the ground on the goal line - and the ball went in off Fabio. DAMN!
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The repugnant Ailton tried to claim the goal as his own - but no way, jose - that goal belongs to Fabio! :))
My mind began to wonder a little then - blank out kinda!! The Germans showed crowd shots and the "dears" were holding up sparklers - how sweet! (I also noticed that there were blades resembling the edges of saws on the tops of their fences and a banner for "FanClub Krumpels"!!) But, back to the game. On 68 minutes, Di Vaio came on for Sousa. Ailton hurt his shoulder and whinged like a baby. On 72 minutes, Benarrivo came on for Fuser. 73 minutes: Sartor was booked and a free-kick was given for an absolutely *not* handball. The kick was tipped over the bar by Gigi. This was closely followed by Beni clearing yet another shot off the line. 78 minutes: Di Vaio had an excellent chance and should've done better. His shot was saved and Vanoli's shot from the rebound went wide. On 80 minutes, Di Vaio had another great chance - he had to score surely. No.
Something peculiar happened on 86 minutes. The referee seemed to indicate that Fabio's pass back to Buffon was a "back pass", which Gigi picked up - and was about to award one of those odd "in the box" free-kicks, but he somehow seemed to change his mind and had a bounce-up instead! That was wierd; I don't know what was going on there. But, in any case, Fabio had passed the ball back to Gigi with his knee, not his foot. The end was near. We did all we could. Gigi even came up for a few free-kicks. But it was all for nothing. We are out of the UEFA cup. I think that Werder deserved their victory though; there can be no question about that. How Malesani could say after the game that we were "in control", I just don't know. It's very sad though. Our season is finished really. I think that Malesani should go. I think that his purchases have proved our undoing. And he never adequately replaced Sensini or brought in another striker - we really needed that.
Hey! Want me to cheer you up by showing you another pic of me??? You do?!?!? I got that pathetic camera to work again unfortunately! It's a strange device. It kinda films whatever its pointed at, very jerkily, and in another time dimension - and you click and it produces a still picture. It's just pot-luck what you get! Here's me, whilst writing this, stuffing myself with chocolate - and my (rather worn) socks!!!
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Unfortunately, I had to shut out the sunshine or all you got was white mist - it's a glorious morning though!
Teams
Werder (4-4-2): Rost 7, Frings 6, Barten 6.5, Baumann 6.5, Wiedener 6.5, Dabrowski 7, Herzog 8 (37' St Bogdanovic Sv), Eilts 7, Bode 7 (26' St Maximov 6), Ailton 8 (46' St Schierenbeck Sv), Pizarro 7. (12 Brasas, 19 Skripnik, 4 Flock, 28 Tjikuzu). Coach: Schaaf 7.
Parma (3-4-3): Buffon 7, Sartor 6, Thuram 5.5, F.Cannavaro 5, Fuser 5 (27' St Benarrivo 6), Sousa 6 (24' St Di Vaio 6), Baggio 5, Vanoli 6, Ortega 4.5 (1' St Dabo 5.5), Crespo 5, Stanic 5.5. (12 Guardalben, 28 P.Cannavaro, 25 Walem, 4 Breda). Coach: Malesani 5.
Referee: Ryszard Wojcik (Polonia) 6.
Goals: nel Pt 29' Dabrowski, 32' Stanic, 45' Bode; nel St 20' Ailton (no, no, no - sorry Fabio but it was definitely your goal!!).
Corners: 9-2 to Werder.
Bookings: Sousa per gioco scorretto, Sartor per proteste, Rost e Wiedener per comportamento non regolamentare (hmm!).
Crowd: 30.500 circa.
From Eurosport
BREMEN, Germany, March 9 - Parma defender Fabio Cannavaro scored the decisive goal which gave Werder a 3-2 win on aggregate, sending the ball into his own net under pressure from Brazilian striker Ailton in the 66th minute.
The 1992 Cup winners Cup champions will go on to meet Arsenal, who lost 2-1 to Deportivo Coruna but went through 6-3 on aggregate. Bremen made up for their 1-0 deficit from the first leg when Christoph Dabrowski, beautifully set up by Andreas Herzog, struck from close range in the 29th minute.
Parma levelled three minutes later with a header from Mario Stanic after a swift counter-attack. The star-studded Italian team then wasted a couple of clear opportunities until Marco Bode struck just before the break to put the home side back in contention.
The German striker, back in action after a long injury break, scored from close range after collecting a low cross from Brazilian striker Ailton. Bremen dominated the early stages and would have opened the scoring without a string of brilliant saves from Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
The Germans kept moving the ball forward after the break and were dangerous in the 56th minute with an effort from just outside the penalty area by Mike Barten.
Ailton missed another great chance three minutes later, going one-on-one with Buffon, but his shot went wide.
The Germans, currently sixth in the Bundesliga standings, have a busy schedule ahead as they will defend their German Cup title against Bayern Munich on May 6 in Berlin. They beat Bayern on penalties in last year's final.
