Arnautović earns Bremen a point at Twente

Marko Arnautović scored a late equaliser against his old side to earn SV Werder Bremen a 1-1 draw against FC Twente in Group A.

Theo Janssen opened the scoring with 15 minutes to play in a tight game in Enschede, but the home side were pegged back by Austrian international Arnautović, who had come on as a 59th-minute substitute. The result leaves both team locked on two points at the bottom of a section led by FC Internationale Milano with the return to come in Germany in a fortnight.

Twente dominated the early possession without working any clear openings until the 11th minute when Bryan Ruiz burst forward from near the halfway line before curling a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the D.

Home coach Michel Preud'homme was forced into a change on 23 minutes when captain Peter Wisgerhof hobbled off injured. Rasmus Bengtsson took his place in central defence. With that switch came a change of momentum and Twente, who had hitherto been under little pressure, almost fell behind to a goal of their own making.

Dwight Tiendalli's misplaced pass on the halfway line gave Hugo Almeida the chance to run at Bengtsson and he fired a low strike from ten metres that Nikolay Mihaylov did well to block with his legs. Six minutes later Bremen had to make a change of their own; goalkeeper Tim Wiese making way for Sebastian Mielitz after injuring his knee unchallenged.

Mielitz was immediately under pressure, scrambling the ball clear after from Denny Landzaat after failing to hold Marc Janko's low shot, while Ruiz then shot into the side netting.

Bremen came out brightly at the start of the second half and on 48 minutes Mihaylov punched away Wesley's shot before Claudio Pizarro, scorer of a hat-trick against Twente in the UEFA Europa League last season, just failed to connect with Aaron Hunt's free-kick.

Against the run of play, however, Twente struck. Janko chested down a deep cross from the left and the ball ran for Janssen, who fired in from close range after his first effort had been saved by Mielitz.

Just five minutes later, Bremen drew level when Arnautović ran onto Pizarro's chipped pass and rifled high into the net. There was still time for Janssen and substitute Luuk de Jong to spurn chances at the other end, before Pizarro had an effort ruled out for offside in a frantic finale.