Les Verts look to overhaul narrow deficit

Despite dealing AS Saint-Etienne their first UEFA competition defeat since November 1982 in the first leg at the Weserstadion, Werder Bremen know that their UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie is far from over.

• Having knocked out AC Milan in the previous round, Bremen made a bright start against St-Etienne, with Naldo putting them into a 20th-minute lead, but they failed to increase their advantage after that and head to France with the outcome still in the balance.

• St-Etienne had been unbeaten in their 12 previous European games since losing 4-0 at FC Bohemians Praha in the second leg of their 1982/83 UEFA Cup second-round tie on 3 November 1982. That run comprised seven wins and five draws.

• Les Verts' nine-game unbeaten home run in Europe stretches back to the quarter-finals of the 1980/81 UEFA Cup, when a team featuring UEFA President Michel Platini lost 4-1 to Ipswich Town FC at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

• St-Etienne have triumphed in six two-legged European ties in which they lost the first leg away from home, most recently in the second round of the 1979/80 UEFA Cup when they lost 2-0 at PSV Eindhoven and then thrashed the Dutch side 6-0 at home. Previous victims include HNK Hajduk Split, FC Bayern München and FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• The first leg was the two sides' first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• Bremen's record against French clubs now reads P12 W4 D3 L5. Their first meeting with a Ligue 1 side was a memorable one as it came in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final, when they beat AS Monaco FC 2-0 in Lisbon.

• Bremen's five away games against French sides have left them with the unenviable record of P5 W0 D1 L4. Their most recent fixture in France was one they would love to forget, as they lost 7-2 to St-Etienne's local rivals Olympique Lyonnais in the second leg of a 2004/05 UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie.

• St-Etienne's Cédric Varrault faced Bremen with his old side OGC Nice in the third round of the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup, playing in both legs as the German side drew 0-0 in France and won 1-0 at the Weserstadion. The suspended Frank Baumann is the only current Bremen player to have played in those fixtures.

• St-Etienne's record against German sides reads P16 W3 D4 L9 and includes the final of the 1975/76 European Champion Clubs' Cup, which Les Verts lost 1-0 against Bayern.

• St-Etienne's home record against German sides reads P7 W2 D4 L1.

• Thomas Schaaf has coached Bremen for nine of their games against French clubs, with his record reading P9 W3 D2 L4 overall and P4 W0 D1 L3 away. He played in one match against Ligue 1 opposition with Bremen, the aforementioned 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Monaco, in which he appeared as a late substitute.

• St-Etienne coach Alain Perrin, who replaced Laurent Roussey earlier in the season, coached in four games against German sides with previous teams ES Troyes Aube Champagne and Lyon, his record reading P4 W3 D1 L0 and including wins in both of his home games against German opposition.

• Bremen's Serbian full-back Duško Tošić played for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons. Perrin was his coach in his final year in France when Sochaux finished seventh in Ligue 1 and won the French Cup, with St-Etienne players Sébastien Grax and Ilan among his team-mates over the course of his two campaigns.

• St-Etienne's on-loan Portuguese midfielder Paulo Machado will also be up against old team-mates, having played alongside Bremen's Diego and Hugo Almeida during the 2004/05 season at FC Porto, with Os Dragões finishing second in the Liga.

• Bremen are unbeaten in their last five European games, drawing three and winning two since going down 3-0 at home against Panathinaikos FC in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage on 4 November 2008.

• On their travels, Schaaf's men have drawn their four most recent European games since last tasting away defeat in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup Round of 16, losing 2-0 to eventual runners-up Rangers FC.

• Claudio Pizarro is Bremen's top scorer in Europe this season with four goals in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, while Ilan is St-Etienne's most prolific marksman with five.

• Bundesliga runners-up last season, Bremen earned their Round of 16 place by finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group B, then overcoming Milan on away goals in the Round of 32, drawing 1-1 at home and 2-2 at San Siro.

• St-Etienne – fifth in Ligue 1 last season – topped UEFA Cup Group G, and then knocked out Greek champions Olympiacos CFP in the Round of 32, winning 3-1 in Piraeus and 2-1 at home.

• Neither St-Etienne or Bremen have been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

• St-Etienne have Efstathios Tavlaridis back from suspension, but Mouhamadou Dabo, Geoffrey Dernis, Moustapha Bayal Sall and Cédric Varrault are within a caution of a ban.

• Bremen's Baumann is suspended, while team-mates Clemens Fritz, Daniel Jensen, Mesut Özil, Diego and Markus Rosenberg will face a ban if they are booked.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place in Nyon on 20 March, exactly two months before the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May.