Sanogo salutes 'great' Diego

Werder Bremen striker Boubacar Sanogo was quick to praise playmaker Diego for the superb assist that led to the Ivorian claiming the opening goal in the Bundesliga side's 2-1 victory at home to S.S. Lazio.

'Perfect pass'
"It was the perfect pass," Sanogo told uefa.com of Man of the Match Diego's superb, chipped ball over the Lazio back line from which he profited to score after 28 minutes. "He's a great No10. He gives you great passes and you could see today that it is a pleasure to play with him," added Sanogo of the Brazilian, who was in inspirational form as Bremen collected their first points in UEFA Champions League Group C on Wednesday night. "He is important for the flow of our game – he carries the ball and is a big help to us up front."

Kept concentration
Sanogo's strike was his second in this season's UEFA Champions League and put Bremen on track for a much-needed victory following two opening defeats in the competition. "It was an important goal and I think it set the team on the way to a good performance," he said. Hugo Almeida added a second for Thomas Schaaf's team nine minutes into the second half, ensuring that although Christian Manfredini pulled a late goal back for Lazio, Bremen did not surrender any points as they had done in their last home game against Olympiacos CFP. "Today we were more focused," said Sanogo. "In the game against Olympiacos we handed them the three points on a plate. Today the difference was we kept our concentration for the full match and managed to get the second goal."

'Getting better'
While Diego was the star performer, it undoubtedly helps Bremen to have other key players like Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski rediscovering their best form after missing the start of the season through injury. And with a return match against Lazio to come on 6 November, they have reason to believe that they can build on this victory and repeat their feat of two seasons ago when they qualified for the knockout rounds despite two opening losses. "I am still convinced we can make it to the next round and it would be nice if we continue to play like this in the up and coming group matches," said captain Frings. "We're getting better with every game."