Twente out for revenge against Bremen

FC Twente get an early opportunity for revenge on Matchday 3 when they face the SV Werder Bremen side who eliminated them from Europe last season. Bremen beat Twente 4-2 on aggregate in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• Both sides suffered heavy defeats last time out – Twente losing 4-1 at Tottenham Hotspur FC, Bremen going down 4-0 at FC Internazionale Milano.

Previous meetings
• Theo Janssen hit the only goal after 39 minutes when a Twente side coached by Steve McClaren won the first leg of last term's UEFA Europa League tie.

• The lineups for that encounter on 18 February were:
Twente: Boschker, Stam, Wisgerhof, Douglas, Tiendalli, Perez (Tioté 70), Brama, Janssen, Ruiz, Nkufo, Stoch (De Jong 86).
Bremen: Wiese, Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen (Abdennour 32), Niemeyer (Borowski 77), Frings, Hunt, Özil (Almeida 67), Marin, Pizarro.

• Bremen turned the tie around with three goals in the first 27 minutes of the return – two from Claudio Pizarro and the third from Naldo. Luuk de Jong (33) pulled one back before Pizarro (58) completed his hat-trick.

Match background
• Twente have won their last two home meetings with Bundesliga opposition. Before beating Bremen, they defeated FC Schalke 04 2-1 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage. These are their only two victories in 13 matches against German sides.

• Twente lost to VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup semi-final – 3-0 away and 2-1 at home – and suffered an even bigger disappointment against the same opponents in the final of the same competition in 1974/75. After a goalless first leg, their hopes were crushed by a 5-1 home defeat.

• Bremen's six previous visits to the Netherlands have brought five losses and one draw. The only time they avoided defeat was a goalless draw at AZ Alkmaar en route to a 2006/07 UEFA Cup quarter-final victory.

• Earlier in that same competition, Hugo Almeida became the last Bremen player to score on Dutch soil in a 3-1 defeat at AFC Ajax in the round of 32, a goal that secured a 4-3 aggregate success for the German side.

• After drawing 2-2 with Inter on Matchday 1, Twente have lost one of their last seven European home games.

Team ties
• Twente coach Michel Preud'homme was in the SL Benfica side beaten 1-0 at 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League. In the 1977/78 UEFA Cup he suffered a 2-1 home defeat by FC Carl Zeiss Jena with R. Standard de Liège and also had aggregate wins against Kaiserslautern and 1. FC Dynamo Dresden in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup before a quarter-final defeat by 1. FC Köln. With KV Mechelen, Preud'homme beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals in 1988/89, while his Benfica team lost 4-1 at FC Bayern München in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup.

• Preud'homme was also in goal for Belgium's 1-0 defeats home and away by Germany in 1992 UEFA European Championship qualifying and a 3-2 last-16 reverse at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

• Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf never faced Dutch opposition as a player. He was on the bench for Bremen's 4-3 home defeat by Feyenoord in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, his last European game before retiring.

• Twente have twice had German coaches: Fritz Korbach (1983-86) and Hans Meyer (1996-99).

• Nikolay Mihaylov scored an own goal in PFC Levski Sofia's 3-0 home group stage defeat by Bremen on 31 October 2006.

• Janssen played in the Vitesse side that beat Bremen in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup second round.

• As Austria captain, Twente's Marc Janko is a team-mate of Bremen's Sebastian Prödl and Marko Arnautović.

• Arnautović played for Twente from 2007 to 2009. He made 44 Eredivisie appearances, all of his 12 goals coming in 2008/09. He spent last term on loan at Inter before joining Bremen.

• Petri Pasanen (Ajax 2000-04) and Daniel Jensen (SC Heerenveen 1998-2003) have also had spells in the Eredivisie.

• Rasmus Bengtsson spent 2009/10 at Hertha BSC Berlin.