Poor Start
September 19, 2007
Normally, a close loss in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium is a moral victory, but Bremen should have had more on Tuesday night against a hardly regal Real. Both teams were slow out of the blocks, and the Spanish giants, in particular, looked as though they were still in summer-vacation mode.
But some sloppy Werder defending staked the hosts to an early lead. In the 16th minute, Ruud van Nistelrooy found his unmarked strike partner Raul, who headed home for the 1-0 advantage.
Bremen got a curious equalizer 60 seconds later. Striker Boubacar Sanogo squeezed a cross, which appeared to be deflected or mis-hit, through the arms of normally reliable Real keeper Iker Casillas.
Bremen had loads of possession in the second half but lacked precision. Van Nistelrooy decided the match for Real in the 74th minute after Werder neglected his ominous presence in the box.
The match reinforced early-season impressions that this Bremen squad is nowhere as good as the teams of the past few years.
Blues in Gelsenkirchen
Schalke went into their home match against Valencia with coach Mirko Slomka suspended and banished to the upper rows of his home ground. So, Slomka had a bird's-eye view of his team's disappointing performance against Valencia.
The Spaniards packed it in at the back, and Schalke could only generate a couple of decent opportunities in the first half. Striker Kevin Kuranyi managed to beat the keeper on one occasion, but missed the goal by centimeters.
David Villa then put the guests on top in the 63rd minute, after Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer ill-advisedly left his line. The 1-0 advantage was all Valencia needed -- substitute Peter Lövenkrands blew the chance for an equalizer in the dying moments of the match.
In other Champions League action Olympique Marseilles beat Turkish side Besiktas 2-0, and Porto and Liverpool drew 1-all. Chelsea could also only manage a 1-all draw at home to Trondheim.
Olympikos Piraeus, too, drew 1-all with Lazio, while defending champions AC Milan beat Portugal's Benfica 2-1, and Schachtor Donesk from Ukraine defeated Celtic 2-0.
The one bright spot for Germany on night Tuesday came in the other European club tournament, the UEFA Cup, where Hamburg beat Bulgarian side Litex Lovech 1-0 thanks to a goal by striker Romeo Castelen.