Bremen seek to make amends against Rangers

Werder Bremen will look to atone for an error-strewn first-leg performance as they welcome Rangers FC to the Weserstadion in a Round of 16 decider.

• Bremen trail 2-0 from the first leg at Ibrox with mistakes from goalkeeper Tim Wiese helping Daniel Cousin and Steven Davis to score either side of half-time in a game which saw captain Barry Ferguson make a Scottish record 77th appearance in UEFA club competition.

• The chance to make a small piece of club history may inspire Bremen's players. Their next goal would be their 150th in the UEFA Cup.

• "It's a nice thing to achieve and I don't see why I can't reach 100 with Rangers," said Ferguson. "There are a few good years left in me yet so that would be a nice number to hit."

• Rangers and Bremen had never previously met in UEFA club competition.

• Rangers have now played 42 games against German opposition in Europe, winning 16, drawing 13 and losing 13. Of their 21 away games against German opposition, they have won three, drawn seven and lost eleven.

• Rangers have had plenty of ups and downs against German sides, with none more painful than their defeat by FC Bayern München in the 1966/67 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final. Franz Roth scored the only goal of the game at Nuremberg's Frankenstadion deep into the second period of extra time.

• Notable bad results against German sides include a 12-4 aggregate loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1959/60 European Champions' Club Cup semi-finals (going down 6-1 in Germany and 6-3 at home) and, more recently, a 5-0 loss at 1. FC Köln in the 1982/83 UEFA Cup second round, having won the first leg 2-1 at Ibrox.

• On a more positive note, one of Rangers' best results in European competition came against a German side as they crushed VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 11-0 on aggregate in the 1960/61 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, winning 3-0 in Germany and 8-0 in Glasgow when Ralph Brand struck a hat-trick.

• Rangers went on to reach the final that season, but lost 4-1 over two legs to ACF Fiorentina.

• Bremen have now played five games against Scottish sides, winning one, drawing two and losing two. Their previous home games against Scottish sides both ended in draws – 1-1 against Dundee United FC in the 1982/83 UEFA Cup third round and 0-0 against Celtic FC in the second round of the 1988/89 European Cup.

• Current Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf played in that game against Celtic as well as the 1-0 win at Celtic Park in the first leg. He also came on as a substitute in the 1-1 home draw against Dundee United. Bremen's coach in all those previous matches against Scottish sides was Otto Rehhagel, the legendary German manager who led Greece to triumph at UEFA EURO 2004™.

• At 46, Schaaf is a notable one-club man having been with Bremen since signing youth forms with the club in July 1972. A defender, he played 262 Bundesliga games before retiring in 1994. He helped Werder win two titles, two German Cups and the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• After retiring, he managed Bremen's youth and reserve teams before taking over as coach in May 1999. He guided the club to cup success a month later and added a German league and cup double in 2003/04.

• Rangers manager Walter Smith is almost as iconic a figure at Ibrox as Schaaf is at the Weserstadion. Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant during his time as Scotland coach and then Graeme Souness's assistant at Rangers, the Glasgow-born former defender led the team he followed as a boy to seven successive Scottish Premier League titles between 1991 and 1998 in his first senior management role.

• He subsequently managed Everton FC and the Scottish national team – where he succeeded German Berti Vogts – before returning for a second spell at Rangers in 2007.

• Bremen's Finnish defender Petri Pasanen and Rangers' Senegalese midfielder Amdy Faye were briefly team-mates at English side Portsmouth FC in 2003/04 season. Faye joined in summer 2003 from AJ Auxerre, while Pasanen played seven Premier League games on loan from AFC Ajax prior to joining Bremen in the summer of 2004.

• German and Scottish sides have already met in this season's UEFA Cup, with Bayern reaching the Round of 16 at Aberdeen FC's expense, drawing 2-2 in Scotland before winning 5-1 at home.

• Bremen's Clemens Fritz and Naldo are within a booking of a match ban, as are Rangers trio Kevin Thomson, Charlie Adam and David Weir. Jean-Claude Darcheville is available again after serving a three-match suspension.

• Rangers and Bremen both parachuted into the UEFA Cup Round of 32 after finishing third in their respective UEFA Champions League groups. A 1-1 draw in Athens helped Rangers eliminate Panathinaikos FC in the Round of 32 following a 0-0 draw at Ibrox, while Bremen beat Portugal's SC Braga 4-0 on aggregate.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the UEFA Cup will be held at UEFA HQ in Nyon on Friday 14 March at 14.00CET.