The first legs of the Champions League playoff stage concluded this afternoon in Europe with Germany’s Werder Bremen and Israel’s Hapoel Tel-Aviv coming up the big winners on the day.
Champions League action resumes next Tuesday with a full slate of five matches across the Fox family of networks.
Werder Bremen began life without Mesut Ozil with an impressive 3-1 win over Sampdoria that was tainted only by a last-minute lapse in concentration, allowing the Italians to grab a lifeline in a game that had been well won.
Coming into the game without their magnetic midfielder, recently transferred to Spanish giants Real Madrid, Werder were initially stifled by a resolute Sampdoria defense that muscled Claudio Pizarro and Hugo Almeida off the ball up top, shielding Gianluca Curci from a barrage that began with the opening whistle.
It took a full half but Bremen finally broke through in the 51st when Fernando Tissone cleared a ball directly to Clemens Fritz all alone, wide right. Fritz sent a left-footed rocket to the far corner, a shot that no keeper could make a play on.
Ref Stephane Lannoy finally had enough of the clipping and cheap fouling in the 67th, tossing Stephano Luccini after he hauled down Sebastian Proedl in the box. Torsten Frings converted the spot kick, and Samp were left to play out with ten men. Pizarro ended the suspense with a slick strike of his own two minutes later, taking a cheeky backheel from Hugo Almeida and chipping the ball past Curci.
But Gianpaolo Pazzini pulled one back with no time left on the clock when Werder was caught coasting. A superb cross in by sub Marius Stankevicius gave Pazzini a snap header that Tim Weise had no chance on. That goal may prove costly next week when the two teams meet on Italian soil.
In Portugal, Sevilla played the pretty football and totally dominated the opening half in Portugal, but left empty handed. Now, the Spaniards head home trailing Sporting Braga 1-0 with plenty to do next Tuesday.
Diego Capel and Jesus Navas, operating on the wings, caused Braga all kinds of problems early, but there was no sweet service for Luis Fabiano or Frederic Kanoute and so, no finish to the Sevilla buildup. As a result, when Braga played itself back into the match in the second half the only goal fell to the Portuguese side, thanks to an alert header from their attack leader, Matheus.
Matheus was in the right spot to head in the rebound after Andres Palop had done very well to keep a Paulo Cesar header out in the 62nd minute, but Palop had no chance on the second, a 6-yard snap that wound up in the roof of the net.
Sevilla's lack of precision on attack meant that Felipe actually had little to do in the Braga goal until the last five minutes and he was not sorely tested then, either. In fact, had a Lima 20-yard drive dipped a bit sooner, Braga might have made it 2-0 at the finish, but the strike hit the top of the bar and flew over.
It was wide open and wild in Salzburg where Hapoel Tel Aviv laid the foundation for what could be a famous Israeli club victory and participation in the group stages after a 3-2 away win that leaves Red Bull facing a mountain to climb next week.
Hapoel was staked to a perfect start when Franz Schiemer tripped Elay Shechter in the 2nd minute and Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama buried the resulting penalty. Red Bull Salzburg got level in the 27th minute off a fine Nikola Pokrivac 25-yard drive, but it was already clear that the Austrians could not contain Ben Sahar and Shechter, who led the Hapoel counterattacks.
It was Sahar, with a header to a Walid Badier free kick, that gave Hapoel the lead before the interval, then Shechter ran all of 40 yards after beating the offside trap to slide home a 53rd minute goal that made it 3-1. Salzburg got a lifeline when Jakob Jantscher was needlessly brought down by Omri Kendi, allowing Roman Wallner to score from the spot in the 67th minute.
There was no miracle Salzburg finish, however and their keeper, Gerhard Tremmler, had to make two big saves in the final 10 minutes to keep the deficit to just one goal.
The 2-2 affair in Belgrade left visiting Anderlecht better placed to advance, but Partizan showed that they have every reason to head to Belgium with the belief that they can advance despite yielding two away goals. However, neither of the sides looked like they have the stuff to do more than take up space in the group stage, whichever gets there.
The four goals were scored in a 12-minute second half span, Guillaume Gillet putting Anderlecht on top, then Cleo and a Jan Lecjaks' own goal giving the Serbs a 2-1 edge. That lasted just two minutes as Roland Juhasz answered for Anderlecht.
Finally, in front of a sparse Swiss crowd, Basel nicked a 1-0 win in a largely formless match against Moldova’s FC Sheriff. Valentin Stocker got the only goal of the game, a header that came against a shambolic Sheriff defense that allowed him to waltz to the far post.
But Basel will be left to rue their misses. Benjamin Huggel saw a 90th minute penalty saved by Vladislav Stoyanov that would have doubled their advantage. Sheriff will be without Aleksandr Erokhin for at least two games as he was ejected in the 86th for slamming the ball into the turf.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the UEFA Champions League.
