Valencia primed for prolific Bremen

Several Valencia CF players will remember only too well how dangerous Werder Bremen can be as Unai Emery's men host the beaten 2008/09 UEFA Cup finalists in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Previous meetings
• Valencia and Werder were pooled together in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League, with Bremen – coached then as now by Thomas Schaaf – beating the side trained at the time by Claudio Ranieri 2-1 at home and 2-0 at Mestalla.

• The teams for the second fixture in Valencia on 7 December 2004 were:
Valencia: Cañizares, Marchena, Baraja, Angulo, Marco Caneira, Navarro, Xisco (Corradi, 61), Mista (Di Vaio, 61), Aimar (Rodríguez, 61), Curro Torres, Moretti.
Bremen: Reinke, Pasanen, Ernst, Baumann, Stalteri, Charisteas (Valdéz, 81), Micoud, Klose (Klasnić, 90), Jensen (Magnin, 46), Borowski, Ismaël.

Match background
• In total, Valencia have played 19 matches against German opposition, with their record reading W4 D7 L8 (W3 D5 L1 at Mestalla). Four of their last five home games against German sides in Europe have ended in draws – with the other match the aforementioned loss to Bremen – following a 3-0 win against FC Bayern München in the first round of the 1996/97 UEFA Cup.

• Valencia faced Bayern in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League final in Milan, losing 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

• Bremen's 20 encounters with Spanish opponents have ended W8 D3 L9 (W3 D0 L7 in Spain). In their most recent ties against Liga opposition, they beat Athletic Club 3-1 at home and 3-0 away in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Valencia have not reached a UEFA club competition quarter-final since 2006/07, when they lost out to Chelsea FC in the UEFA Champions League last eight.

Team facts 
• Bremen's Swedish striker Markus Rosenberg and Valencia's Dutch midfielder Hedwiges Maduro were team-mates at AFC Ajax from 2005 to 2007, with the club winning Dutch Cups in both of their seasons together.

• Bremen's Danish midfielder Daniel Jensen played in Spain for Real Murcia CF, but the club were relegated at the end of his only season – 2003/04 – after which he moved to the Weserstadion.

• Bremen are the highest scoring team in the UEFA Europa League this season with 21 goals scored since the start of the group stage.

• Bremen's Claudio Pizarro is the tournament's top scorer to date, with eight strikes since the start of the group stage.

• Bremen are one of three German sides in the last 16, with VfL Wolfsburg and final hosts Hamburger SV the others. The Bundesliga boasts the most UEFA Europa League contenders at this stage. Valencia are one of two Spanish sides left in the competition, along with Club Atlético de Madrid.

• The tie concludes at the Weserstadion on 18 March. The draw for the quarter-finals will be staged the following day.