Bremen planting eyes on the top prize

With Werder Bremen already safely through to the round of 32, Thomas Schaaf's men will look to be confirmed Group L winners as they take on a CD Nacional side needing two wins to have any chance of UEFA Europa League survival.

• Bremen will be sure of top spot if they secure a better result than Athletic Club can manage at FK Austria Wien. Nacional will live to fight again only if they win in Bremen and Athletic Club lose in Vienna.

Previous meetings
• Bremen won 3-2 in Funchal as the sides met for the first time on Matchday 1, in what was Nacional's first game against a German side. Bremen's previous two Portuguese visitors enjoyed contrasting fortunes: FC Porto won 5-0 at the Weserstadion in the 1993/94 UEFA Champions League group stage, while an SC Braga side coached by Nacional boss Manuel Machado lost 3-0 there in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32.

Match background
• Bremen have won all three of their European home games this season, scoring eleven goals in the process.

• The least experienced side in the group stage, with just ten European outings to their name, Nacional have yet to win an away encounter in five UEFA club competition attempts.

Team facts
• Both teams are islanders, technically speaking. Nacional come from Madeira, in the mid-Atlantic, while Bremen take their name from the island ('Werder') in the River Weser on which they were formed.

• Bremen are still under the command of Schaaf, who represented the club as a defender from 1978-95, stayed on as a coach and eventually took charge of the first team in 1999.

• Schaaf won two Bundesliga titles, two German Cups and the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as a Bremen player. As a coach, he has won one league title, three German Cups and led his side to last season's UEFA Cup final, only to lose out to FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

• Machado is in his second stint at the Nacional helm. He started his coaching career in his native Guimaraes as a youth trainer at Vitória SC, eventually leading the senior team there as well as having spells at A. Académica de Coimbra and Braga.

• Machado will not make the journey to Germany because of poor health. His assistant José Augusto will take his place on the bench for the game against Bremen.

• Nacional's most significant recent claim to fame has been that Funchal-born Cristiano Ronaldo spent two years with the club before joining Sporting Clube de Portugal's Alcochete academy at the age of 12 in 1997.

• Bremen boast Portuguese talent in the form of Hugo Almeida, one of the scorers in the aforementioned 3-0 win against Braga.

• Bremen's Claudio Pizarro is one of six players currently topping the UEFA Europa League top scorers standings with four goals along with Gervinho (LOSC Lille Metropole), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club), Óscar Cardozo (SL Benfica), Alexander Frei (FC Basel 1893) and Luiz Adriano (FC Shakhtar Donetsk).

• Bremen visit Athletic on Matchday 6, with Nacional hosting Austria Wien on the same night, 16 December.