Dominant Bremen overpower Braga

SC Braga were made to pay for two missed penalties as Werder Bremen earned a convincing 3-0 UEFA Cup win at the Weserstadion.

Early strike
Naldo opened the scoring for last season's semi-finalists in the fifth minute and Daniel Jensen established firm control with the second goal on 27 minutes. By that stage Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese had already saved Roland Linz's spot-kick and he repeated the feat to deny Jorginho later in the half before Hugo Almeida rubbed salt into the wounds by adding the third with a penalty deep into second-half added time.

Naldo opener
Bremen took the lead in the early stages as Naldo let fly from 23 metres and found the bottom corner of Paulo Santos' goal. Braga had a golden chance to level six minutes later when Clemens Fritz was adjudged to have felled Roland Linz in the area but Braga's top scorer in the competition was denied by a fine save from Wiese. Per Mertesacker almost made them pay only for his header to strike the left upright from close range but the second goal was not long in coming.

Second save
It was Jensen who doubled the advantage when he had time and space to pick his spot after Hugo Almeida's pass into the box was deflected to the Danish midfielder by Fritz. Wiese gave away the second penalty after 35 minutes for bringing down Matheus but the custodian performed heroics again as he dived to his left to push away Jorginho's low strike. Bremen pushed forward in the second half as they looked to put the tie beyond Braga's reach ahead of next Thursday's Round of 32 return leg and they were rewarded right at the end when João Pereira handled Mesut Özil's free-kick and Hugo Almeida stepped up to convert confidently.