Hamburger v Werder Bremen Live

Coming off a disappointing 0-1 home loss last week, Werder Bremen put themselves in a difficult position for the second leg of this UEFA Cup semi-final. Hamburg on the other hand is confident to advance to the finals with the help of their home crowd versus Werder Bremen on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. GMT.

Although Werder was not satisfied at all with the result of their home opener, things could have been much worse. More specifically, Hamburg’s Paolo Guerrero and Ivica Olic could not get past Bremen’s goalkeeper Tim Wiese who helped his team to make it to half-time only being down by one goal after Piotr Trochowski’s header.

After the half-time break, the audience saw Werder playing much better but still unable to convert. Nonetheless, Hamburg did not limit their efforts to defending their lead but continued trying to score a second away goal. In the 65^th minute Olic missed another opportunity to extend Hamburg’s lead.

Despite the fact that Hamburg is in an excellent position for the second leg, this all German semi-final is far from being over. Werder has shown weaknesses on the defensive end throughout the season, but they are very capable of scoring on the road. Especially the combination of offensive midfielder Diego and Bremen’s strikers Hugo Almeida and Claudio Pizarro will be a tough challenge for Hamburg’s defense.

In contrast, Hamburg’s coach Martin Jol is facing the problem of possibly not having any striker except for Olic ready for the game on Thursday. The Peruvian Paolo Guerrero will not be allowed to play due to another yellow card in the first leg, while Mladen Petric is still injured and expected to be a game-time decision. Thus it remains to be seen whether Olic will be able to do it all on his own.

You can watch the second leg of this UEFA Cup semi final right here at oleolefootball, the home of live online football streaming.