Milan hope Bremen draw a blank

AC Milan will be aiming to extend their winning home run against Werder Bremen when the two teams meet at San Siro for a place in the UEFA Cup Round of 16.

• Filippo Inzaghi opened the scoring in the first leg, but Diego replied late on to earn a 1-1 draw.

• Bremen and Milan have now met on five occasions, the Rossoneri picking up three away draws and two wins on home soil.

• Current Milan head coach Carlo Ancelotti and his opposite number Thomas Schaaf both started for their respective clubs in a 0-0 first-leg draw in Bremen at the quarter-final stage of the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup.

• Ancelotti also appeared in the second leg, a game Arrigo Sacchi's Milan edged 1-0 to progress to the semi-finals at the expense of Otto Rehhagel's Bremen. Marco van Basten scored the only goal of the tie.

• The teams for that game in Italy were:
Milan: Giovanni Galli, Mauro Tassotti, Paolo Maldini, Angelo Colombo (Alessandro Costacurta, 89), Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Alberigo Evani.
Bremen: Oliver Reck, Günter Hermann, Jonny Otten, Rune Bratseth, Gunnar Sauer, Ulrich Borowka (Christoph Hanses, 71), Thomas Wolter, Miroslav Votava, Frank Ordenewitz (Manfred Burgsmüller, 65), Frank Neubarth, Norbert Meier.

• The teams met again twice in the 1993/94 UEFA Champions League group stage. In the first game in Milan, Paolo Maldini and Dejan Savičević scored either side of a Mario Basler effort to give Fabio Capello's charges a 2-1 win.

• The teams for that game were:
Milan: Sebastiano Rossi, Mauro Tassotti, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Donadoni, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Stefano Eranio (Marco Simone, 46), Marcel Desailly, Zvonimir Boban, Dejan Savičević (Demetrio Albertini, 88), Daniele Massaro.
Bremen: Oliver Reck, Thomas Wolter, Thorsten Legat, Frank Neubarth, Dietmar Beiersdorfer, Mario Basler, Dieter Eilts, Miroslav Votava, Marco Bode (Bernd Hobsch, 76), Andreas Herzog, Wynton Rufer.

• Maldini's goal was only his second in European club competition. His first came against ŠK Slovan Bratislava in the second round of the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League and his third and last in 173 European appearances to date, prior to the first leg, was against Liverpool in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League final.

• A Wynton Rufer penalty gave Rehhagel's men the lead in the return fixture in Bremen, only for Savičević to equalise from open play. Schaaf was an unused substitute for the Bundesliga club.

• Milan drew 2-2 with VfL Wolfsburg in their final group-stage match of this season's UEFA Cup. Their record against German sides in European competition now reads W17 D10 L9.

• Milan's 17 home games against German visitors have ended W12 D3 L2. BV Borussia Dortmund were the last Bundesliga side to beat them at San Siro when inflicting a 1-0 second group-stage defeat in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League on 18 March 2003. Milan's last two home matches against German opponents have ended in 2-2 draws.

• Milan are unbeaten in seven European games this season, though their last three UEFA Cup fixtures have all ended in scoring draws.

• Bremen earned a 1-1 away draw and 2-1 home win against FC Internazionale Milano in Group B of this season's UEFA Champions League. Their record from 23 games against Italian opposition now reads W8 D9 L6.

• Bremen's record in eleven games on Italian soil reads W2 D3 L6. They have not won on eight trips to Italy since a 3-2 victory at SSC Napoli on 22 November 1989 in the UEFA Cup third round.

• Former AS Roma and Milan midfielder Ancelotti faced teams from Germany eight times during his playing career, recording W3 D1 L4. His four home games against Bundesliga opponents ended in three wins and one defeat.

• He also represented Italy in two encounters with the former West Germany, drawing one and losing the other.

• Since hanging up his boots, Ancelotti has enjoyed a greater degree of success against German opponents. His coaching record from 18 games against Bundesliga sides now reads W8 D6 L4, while he can point to W5 D2 L2 in nine home fixtures against German clubs.

• Schaaf played for Bremen in four matches against Serie A clubs, winning one and drawing three. One win and a draw came on Italian soil.

• In 13 games against Italian opposition as Bremen coach, his overall record now reads W5 D4 L4. Of six away fixtures, his teams have recorded W0 D2 L4.

• Bremen's Claudio Pizarro and Milan's Andriy Shevchenko were team-mates at Chelsea FC in 2007/08. The Peruvian scored twice in his 21 Premier League appearances, 17 of which were made as a substitute. The Ukrainian forward, for his part, struck five times in 17 league appearances, coming off the bench on nine occasions.

• Prior to making a short substitute appearance in the first leg, on-loan Milan midfielder David Beckham had only played twice in the UEFA Cup. He featured in both legs of a 1995/96 first round meeting with SC Rotor Volgograd, which Manchester United FC lost on away goals after a 0-0 draw in Russia and a 2-2 result at home. Team-mate Alessandro Nesta has also been added to the Milan squad. The centre-back has not played in the competition since 1998, when he was an S.S. Lazio player.

• Milan have lost just one of their last 13 European home games. That was a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Arsenal FC in the first knockout round of last season's UEFA Champions League.

• Bremen have drawn on their last three European away days and have won just one of their last eight away matches in UEFA club competition - a 1-0 second-leg success at SC Braga in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup Round of 32.

• Milan have been involved in six penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition, winning four and losing two. They beat Roda JC 3-2 on spot-kicks in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup fourth round in their only European shoot-out to date at San Siro.

• Milan's two penalty shoot-out defeats to date both came in finals held on neutral territory. They lost 3-2 on penalties against Liverpool FC in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul and went down 3-1 on spot-kicks against CA Boca Juniors in the 2003 European/South American Cup in Yokohama, Japan.

• Bremen have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

• Fifth in Serie A in 2007/08, Milan qualified for the Round of 32 with a second-place finish in UEFA Cup Group E. Bremen, Bundesliga runners-up last season, earned their ticket when finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group B.

• Inzaghi is Milan's top scorer in Europe this season with three goals, while Ronaldinho and Pato have scored two each. Bremen's most dangerous marksmen have been Diego, Pizarro and Hugo Almeida, with two goals each.

• Bremen have Torsten Frings available following his suspension for the first leg. Daniel Jensen, Frank Baumann and Diego are within a booking of one-match bans, along with Milan's Luca Antonini and Giuseppe Favalli.

• The winners of this tie will take on Olympiacos CFP or AS Saint-Etienne in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the first leg at home.