Werder suffer Greek loss
Werder suffer Greek loss
Werder Bremen suffered Champions League heartache on Wednesday night when Greek side Olympiakos fought back late and superbly to claim a 3-1 win at the Weserstadion.
Bremen's Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida had put his side ahead when he converted a first-half cross after 32 minutes, but the Greeks hit back with Ieroklis Stoltidis equalising in the 72nd minute.
The game then turned into a nightmare for the Germans when defender Christos Patsatzoglu smashed home a late shot past Werder's second-choice 'keeper Christian Vander on 82 minutes before striker Darko Kovacevic completed the rout three minutes from time.
"If you don't enter into the fight, you haven't got a chance of winning," said glum Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf after the final whistle.
"Whether that is in the Champions League or grass-roots football, you have to compete and we didn't.
"In the first-half we weren't great, but I was happy we took a 1-0 lead.
"We lost our way, as well as the contest in the second-half, and we paid the price."