Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Werder Bremen: Germans Cruise Past Overmatched Hosts

Goals from Claudio Pizarro, Naldo and Markus Rosenberg were enough to see a professional and efficient Werder Bremen side ease past Athletic Bilbao...

Dec 16, 2009 10:27:00 PM

More On :  Athletic Bilbao, Werder Bremen, Athletic Bilbao vs Werder Bremen
Naldo, Werder Bremen (Getty Images)

The Spanish side could have made the perfect start within the opening few minutes when Iker Munian dashed down the left hand side before cutting in and unleashing a shot that Tim Wiese did well to cling onto. He then raced onto a through ball just minutes later, all by himself in 40 yards of space, before the linesman's flag was raised.
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However, it was the German outfit that went ahead through Claudio Pizarro's strike in the 13th minute. The front man rose well to meet Markus Rosenberg's cross full on and fired the ball in from a few yards out. It was Werder Bremen's first real attack of the night and it paid off. Munian was then presented with a good chance to level matters as he controlled a ball into his feet well before turning and having a goal bound shot blocked. The two teams continued to trade attacks as no obvious pattern emerged over the game, despite the early goal.

However, Naldo did not make the same mistake and put the away team up 2-0 inside the first 25 minutes. After Rosenberg pressed hard on the right to win a free kick, the defender rose higher than anyone else in the box and buried another precise header past Gorka Iraizoz. The goal left the home side with an uphill climb in front of them. Bilbao heads dropped as Werder Bremen started to dominate the game.

Mesut Ozil played a perfect ball through to Rosenberg who zoned in on the goal before smashing the ball past the far left hand post and out of play. Francisco Yeste found himself with a rare sight of the Werder Bremen goal on the half hour mark but was not able to trouble the goalkeeper as his free kick was blasted way over the bar.

Munian and Bilbao continued to display some naive actions with the halt-time break looming. Run after run was made but the strikers were moving too early and giving the linesman an easy time in raising his flag for offside.

Bilbao started to build some good pressure and spells of possession but a third goal was rattled in on 36 minutes by Rosenberg who looked in excellent form. The Swedish international capitalised on a good passage of play from a number of Werder players and made no mistake slotting in from ten yards out. Although there was the best part of an hour left, the feeling was the job was done.

Things could have been even worse for Bilbao before half-time when Rosenberg could have grabbed his second goal when he volleyed inches wide following a cross from Torsten Frings.

Bilbao started the second half with the passion and pace that seemed to be missing during the first 45 minutes. Gaizka Toquero found himself with two chances in as many minutes but fine saves from Wiese in the Werder Bremen goal denied him on both occasions.

Ozil then missed a glorious chance to score the away team's fourth goal when he was slid through on goal after a pass from the midfield. As he moved to take the ball past the oncoming goalkeeper, the talented attacking player lost his footing and ended up sitting on the turf instead of running away to celebrate.

Markus Rosenberg was having one of his best games in a Werder shirt. The influential midfield player was involved in a number of slick passes before breaking forward and hitting a first time shot that Iraizoz parried away before scrambling to collect.

Munian looked the most likely of all the Bilbao players to score or construct any creative play. As the match entered the last quarter of an hour, he danced around three defenders before passing sloppily to personify Bilbao's showing for the whole of the evening.

With time running out the Bilbao players started to look defeated, despite the energy from some of the substitutes. More gaps started to appear and Werder Bremen settled in to see the match out in the last ten minutes.

The Bilbao performance was summed up with their last serious chance to score a goal. Aurtenexte made a good run into the left hand side of the penalty box, had the majority of the goal to shoot at and instead tried to square to another player before the ball trickled through and an offside flag was raised.

Although Werder may have been a little flattered by the final scoreline, the point is that they took all of their chances and made the most of the ball when they had it. For Bilbao it was a disappointing Group L performance and one that the coach will quickly want to forget.

Lewis Doe, Goal.com
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