UEFA Champions League Match Review: Sampdoria Genoa versus Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen took on Sampdoria Genoa in the second match of the two legged UEFA Champions league play-off qualification tie between the two European clubs.
Bremen adopted the tactical 4-2-3-1 line up for the match with Marko Marin as the attacking winger in the front three behind the striker. The two defensive midfielders for Werder Bremen were the experienced Torsten Frings and Bargfrede.
At the back, the German club had the German international centre back Mertesacker in his usual position. He was partnered by Prodl in central defensive while Fritz and Pasanen played on the right and left side of the defence respectively. Between the goal posts, Bremen had T. Wiese as their goal keeper.
Conversely, Sampdoria adopted a conventional 4-4-2 for their match against Werder Bremen. In attack, Cassano and Pazzini took up the offensive responsibilities for the Italian club side. In the middle of the park, F. Semioli, A. Palombo, D. Dessena and S. Guberti took up mantle of creating opportunities for the front two. In defence, Sampdoria Genoa deployed Ziegler, Volta, Gastaldello and Stankevicius as the back four. Curci played as Sampdoria’s goal keeper.
Werder Bremen had won the first leg of the play-off which was held in Germany by three goals to one. This meant that Genoa Sampdoria had to either get a two nil away victory to secure progression to the group stages or win the match by four goals to one. The match was held at Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Italy and the referee for the encounter was Viktor Kassai.
At the start of the match, Sampdoria and Bremen both exchanged warm up attacks as the teams tried to feel each other up before going all out for a win. Bremen’s lineup suggested that they had come to Italy to gain a draw, whereas Sampdoria were going all out for win which would guarantee them UEFA Champions’ league group stage football. Cassano had the first chance of the match for Sampdoria in the 6th minute of the match but his header went wide off the mark.
Sampdoria built on their aggressive start of the match and scored the first goal within the first 8 minutes as Pazzini got at the end of a fantastic cross by Cassano. The defending however from Bremen was abysmal as the keeper was at fault too for being beaten on his near post. The first yellow card of the match was shown to Bremen’s defender Prodl in the 13th minute of the match.
Genoa Sampdoria continued their fantastic start with another goal in the 15th minute of the match as Pazzini got his second with a brilliantly taken volley from a free kick which was floated inside the box. The quick fire double by Pazzini put his team in the driving seat as the score line of two nil suited the Italian club in terms of their hopes of progression. Dessena was the first Sampdoria player to get booked by the referee at the 23rd minute mark.
Right before the end of the first half, Pazzini almost completed his hat-trick as his header was cleared off the line by the Bremen defence. Werder Bremen did have a spell of good possession during the middle stages of the match after Sampdoria’s second goal but they apparently lacked that inventive and creative edge to their moves. At the end of the first half, Sampdoria led Bremen by two goals to nil.
Sampdoria started the second half strongly but then took their foot off the accelerator as Bremen started to control the possession once again. In the 63rd minute Marko Arnautovic came on for Werder Bremen in place of Borowski. Werder Bremen’s dominance however was not resulting in something material as they were apparently at a loss when it came to getting behind the Sampdorian defence.
Fernando Tissone replaced Guberti for Sampdoria in the 66th minute of the match. In the 72nd minute of the match, Wagner of Sampdoria was substituted for Rosenberg. Sampdoria were forced into making another substitution at the 73rd as Mannini replaced the injured Tissone, who had just came on the field moments earlier for the Italian club side.
Finally in the 84th minute of the match, Sampdoria scored the killer goal with Cassano forcing the ball past the Werder Bremen goal keeper, after a grounded cross from the right hand side by Semioli. However, that was not all in the dying moments of the match; Rosenberg brought his team back into the match as Bremen got their crucial away goal through his twenty yard strike from the right wing. This brought the match back to a 3-1 score line. At the end of the ninety minutes, Sampdoria and Bremen were tied on four goals each on aggregate, therefore the match was forced into extra time.
In the first half of extra time at the 100th minute mark, Claudio Pizzaro stepped up to the stage for Werder Bremen and scored an astonishing goal after smashing the ball into the back of the net from around twenty five yards out.
At the end of the first half of extra time, the score line was Sampdoria 2, Werder Bremen 3. This scoreline remained unchanged till the end of the match at the conclusion of the second period of extra time and therefore Bremen progressed to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League while Sampdoria were knocked out of the competition at the qualification stage.
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