Madrid win raises Rosenberg's hopes

Werder Bremen goalscorer Markus Rosenberg believes his side will graduate from UEFA Champions League Group C after enjoying “one of the best nights” of his career, beating Real Madrid CF 3-2 at the Weserstadion.

Olympiacos mission
The Bundesliga outfit went into the match missing a raft of starters and in desperate need of victory but they began silencing the doubters after just five minutes when Rosenberg bundled the ball in. It was untidy but it counted, and even though Robinho soon equalised in style, the Sweden forward helped restore the home side's lead with a fantastic run and cross for Boubacar Sanogo close to the interval. Aaron Hunt and Ruud van Nistelrooy then exchanged second-half goals as Bremen emerged needing all three points at Olympiacos CFP on 11 December to advance.

'Decent chance'
"Of course we think we can go on from here and qualify," explained Rosenberg, who signed from AFC Ajax in January. "We didn't get lucky with Olympiacos winning in the other game [against S.S. Lazio] but we know what we have to do now, which is win in Athens. After beating Madrid here, we should have a decent chance of beating Olympiacos as well, especially when you look at how well we're playing at the moment."

Sanogo partnership
The 25-year-old would probably not have been on the pitch at all were Portuguese marksman Hugo Almeida fit, so he was understandably delighted with his own contribution. "It was one of the best nights of my career," he said. "I'm pleased to have scored even if it wasn't a clean touch. That seems to be how it is for us at the moment: you get a bad touch and it goes in, whereas if you get a clean hit it goes wide. Our second goal came from a good move and a great finish from Boubacar. He was injured for a while but we've played together a few times now and it's going well between us."

Pressure tactics
As for why Bremen prevailed, Rosenberg was quick to highlight coach Thomas Schaaf's tactics. "The key was how much pressure we put on them," he said. "We pressed them from the start and we fought really hard. They cancelled out our opening goal pretty quickly, but we maintained our tempo. That was very important. We kept fighting for every ball because we knew they wouldn't like that. In the end, everything went the way we hoped."