Udinese out to overhaul Bremen advantage

Italy's last remaining team in UEFA club competition, Udinese Calcio face an uphill task if they are to reach the UEFA Cup semi-finals, having lost 3-1 to Werder Bremen in the opening leg of their last-eight contest in Germany.

1) Match background

Previous meetings:
Werder Bremen 3-1 Udinese Calcio
2008/09 UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg

Udinese Calcio 1-1 3-4 Werder Bremen
2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage

• Brazilian playmaker Diego was in superb form at the Weserstadion last Thursday, breaking the deadlock through a precise low drive from the edge of the area after 34 minutes and doubling his tally midway through the second period, with Hugo Almeida then adding to Udinese's misery just two minutes later. The visitors nonetheless kept their semi-final chances alive with Fabio Quagliarella's late effort.

• Thomas Schaaf's Bremen had the better of the two sides' only other previous European meetings. On Matchday 3 of Group C, Serse Cosmi's side needed a late Antonio Di Natale strike to salvage a draw at the Stadio Friuli after Felipe had put through his own net in the 64th minute.

• The return match proved to be a thriller. Goals from Miroslav Klose, Frank Baumann and Johan Micoud helped Bremen race into a 3-0 lead, but two Di Natale strikes and a Christian Schulz own goal levelled matters in the space of six second-half minutes. Frenchman Micoud finally clinched all three points with a 67th-minute volley, with Giampiero Pinzi dismissed late on for Udinese.

Udinese's record against German clubs: P9 W2 D2 L5
Udinese's record at home against German clubs: P4 W0 D2 L2
Bremen's record against Italian clubs: P25 W9 D10 L6
Bremen's record away against Italian clubs: P12 W2 D4 L6

• Werder Bremen have never lost a European tie after taking a two-goal advantage into the second leg, while Udinese failed in their only attempt to overturn such a deficit. The Italian outfit lost 3-1 away to Panionios GSS in the first round of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup, with a 1-0 victory in the return not enough to deny the Greek side progression.

• Udinese are Bremen's third Italian opponents of the season. Having drawn 1-1 away and won 2-1 at home against FC Internazionale Milano in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage, Bremen beat AC Milan on away goals in the UEFA Cup Round of 32, drawing 1-1 at the Weserstadion and 2-2 at San Siro.

• Bremen have met Italian opposition in seven previous knockout ties in UEFA club competition, winning four – including a 1987/88 UEFA Cup quarter-final against Hellas-Verona FC – and losing three.

• Udinese have never won a home game against a German side, with their four previous attempts ending in two wins and a draw.

• Bremen won two of their first three games in Italy, but have now not recorded a victory in nine visits since winning 3-2 at SSC Napoli in a UEFA Cup third-round opener on 22 November 1989.

• Udinese knocked Bremen's Bundesliga rivals BV Borussia Dortmund out of this season's UEFA Cup 4-3 on penalties at the Stadio Friuli after the two teams had traded 2-0 home defeats in the first round. That was their second victory in three two-legged European ties against German opposition.

• Schaaf played for Bremen in four matches against Serie A clubs, with a win and a draw in his two away fixtures.

• His overall record against Italian opposition as Bremen coach reads P15 W6 D5 L4. In Italy, his record reads P7 W0 D3 L4. He has never won in Italy as a coach.

• Still in his first season in European competition as a coach or a player, Udinese boss Pasquale Marino's only experience of German opposition before the first leg against Bremen was the first-round victory against Dortmund.

• Bremen's Duško Tošić and Udinese's Aleksandar Luković are international team-mates with Serbia.

• Bundesliga runners-up last season, Bremen earned their Round of 16 place by finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group B. They then overcame Milan on away goals in the Round of 32, drawing 1-1 at home and 2-2 at San Siro. They won 1-0 at home and drew 2-2 away against AS Saint-Etienne to make it to the quarter-finals.

• Udinese finished seventh in Serie A last season to seal a place in the UEFA Cup first round. They topped UEFA Cup Group D and then beat KKS Lech Poznań in the Round of 32, drawing 2-2 in Poland and winning 2-1 at home. They then knocked out holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg, winning 2-0 at home and losing 1-0 in Russia.

• The winners of this tie will meet Hamburger SV or Manchester City FC in the semi-finals on 30 April and 7 May, playing the first leg at home. The winners of that semi-final will be the nominal away side in the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May.

Penalties:-
Udinese: Udinese were involved in their debut UEFA competition penalty shoot-out in the aforementioned first-round game in this season's UEFA Cup, when they beat Dortmund 4-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

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

2) Form book

Udinese: Udinese are playing in their first major European quarter-final. They are the only side in the last eight never to have won a major domestic trophy. They have won their last four home games in Europe, scoring twice in each.

Last five European games: DWWLL
Last five European home games: LWWWW
Top scorer (Europe): Fabio Quagliarella (6)

Last five domestic games: DDLLW
Last five domestic home games: WWWDL
Top scorer (Serie A): Antonio Di Natale (12)

Bremen: This is Bremen's fifth UEFA Cup quarter-final. They have won three of their previous four ties at this stage of the competition. They have drawn their last five European away games, with 2-2 outcomes in the most recent four ties.

Last five European games: DDWDW
Last five European away games: DDDDD
Top scorer (Europe): Claudio Pizarro (5, including 2 in the UEFA Champions League group stage)

Last five domestic games: DWLWD
Last five domestic away games: LLDLD
Top scorer (Bundesliga): Claudio Pizarro (16)

Disciplinary information:
Udinese: Emanuele Belardi, Andrea Coda, Gaetano D'Agostino, Simone Pepe, Giovanni Pasquale and Quagliarella will face suspension if they are cautioned.

Bremen: Torsten Frings, Clemens Fritz, Daniel Jensen, Mesut Özil, Diego and Markus Rosenberg are within a booking of a one-match ban.

3) Who are...

Udinese

Honours
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2000
• Domestic honours: none

Trivia
• Udinese's roots can be traced to the founding of a football division by the Udine Gymnastics and Fencing Society in 1896. The club's black-and-white striped shirts have won them the nickname of the 'Zebrette' (Little Zebras).

• Udinese were the only European club that Brazilian legend Zico ever played for, between 1983 and 1985. Other famous Friuli old boys include Argentina striker Abel Balbo, goalkeeper Dino Zoff – from nearby Mariano del Friuli – and German forward Oliver Bierhoff, who set a club record of 27 league goals in 1997/98.

• Opened in 1976, the Stadio Friuli also has facilities for fencing, gymnastics, martial arts and athletics. The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna have also played concerts in the arena in recent years.

Bremen

Honours
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1991/92
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1998
• Domestic honours: 4 German titles, 5 German Cups.

Trivia
• Bremen have spent only one season outside the Bundesliga since it began in 1963/64. That solitary second-tier campaign came in 1980/81, with the team winning promotion straight back into the top flight.

• The club was founded in February 1899 as FV Werder, with 'werder' being an obscure German word for a river island, like the Peterswerder upon which the Weserstadion stands. They became Werder Bremen in January 1920 and two years later were the first German team to hire a professional coach.

• Werder are famous for their European miracles on home soil, with at least four games being remembered for a 'Wunder von der Weser':-
- in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup they won 6-2 at home against FC Spartak Moskva after extra time, having lost the first leg 4-1.
- in the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup they lost 3-0 at BFC Dynamo Berlin but prevailed with a 5-0 home success.
- In the 1993/94 campaign they came from 3-0 down in a UEFA Champions League group match against RSC Anderlecht to win 5-3.
- In the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup third round they lost 3-0 at Olympique Lyonnais, but won 4-0 in the home leg.