Champions League: Werder Bremen 2-2 Tottenham Hotspurs
Tottenham Hotspurs maiden Champions League campaigns’ first fixture against Werder Bremen didn’t end as well as Harry Redknapp’s side would have wanted or expected.
Spurs were the dominant side at the start of the match, confirming Harry Redknapp’s comments in his pre match interview that the English side would play attacking football. They were on the attack from the starting whistle and their efforts paid off as Spurs were leading by a goal under 15 minutes.
It was Asou Ekotto who got the ball rolling; his seemingly harmless pass made it to Gareth Bale who delivered an accurate shot to the right back Clemens Fritz. Fritz made the most of it and put a terrific cross in which both the goal keeper and defender were unable to deal with and with pressure from Peter Crouch, Petri Pasanen the Bremen centre back panicked and ended up steering the ball into the back of his own net.
It took the Spurs only another six minutes to score a second. Last minute new signing Rafael Van Der Vaart ended up being completely unmarked because of a mistake by the Bremen defence. He managed to get in to a precise position to fellow striker Peter Crouch who did not miss the opportunity to head the ball in the top corner of the oppositions net, leaving Bremen keeper Time Wiese helpless where he stood.
It was after the second goal that Bremen seemed to come to life, even though Bale was on fire, providing chances and having a shot at goal himself, forcing Wiese into intense saves. Marko Marin, the 21 year old Bremen striker almost earned his side a penalty after his shot in the Tottenham box hit Tom Huddlestone in the arm, but the penalty was not given.
It was right before the end of the first half, in the 43rd minute, that Bremen scored their first goal. It was Asou Ekotto once again who played an opening role in the goal. He earned his side a throw in, which Silvestre took and the ball made it to Asou Ekotto, who played it to Hugo Almeida who managed to dodge the recently returned Ledley King and score past Carlo Cudicini with a precise header.
After the half time break it was Werder Bremen who were the better side, they came out with a sense of purpose and a sudden realization of the fact of Tottenham’s apparent inexperience in the Champions League. The observation was accurate and it was soon the Spurs who were playing at the back foot, retreating against Bremen’s growing attacks.
It only took Bremen a minute after the restart to get things going as Aaron Hunt, brought on for Philipp Bargfrede, struck a thunder strike, which forced an impressive but painful save out of Cudicini. With every growing Bremen attack, Tottenham would shrink back and the possibility of the German side equalizing was looking more like viable.
It was Marin, who finally earned his side the equalizer. He got the ball just inside the opponents half and charged at their defence, which had been rendered helpless by now. Despite their wishes to close him down, they ended up giving him more and more space until finally the German international had enough shooting space and vision to release a shot which was unstoppable by the entire Spurs defence as well as Cudicini.
Squad
Werder Bremen (4-1-3-2): Wiese 7; Fritz 4, Prodl 6, Pasanen 6, Silvestre 7; Frings 6; Wesley 6 (Borowski 67), Marin 8, Bargfrede 4 (Hunt 37, 6); Almeida 7 (Wagner, 79, 6), Arnautovic 5
Tottenham (4-4-1-1): Cuducini 5; Corluka 5, Kaboul 6, King 7, Assou-Ekotto 7; Lennon 4 (Palacios, 75, 6), Huddlestone 7, Jenas 7, Bale 8; Van Der Vaart 8 (Keane 49, 6); Crouch 8
Tags: