FC Barcelona v Werder Bremen PRESS KIT Camp Nou, Barcelona Tuesday, 22 November 2005 - 20:45 CET Group C - Matchday 5 FC Barcelona, now assured of their place in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League having gained a 5-0 win against Panathinaikos FC on Matchday 4, would be wrong to underestimate the challenge of Werder Bremen, who have collected four points from their last two games to put themselves in contention for a qualifying berth. Tight race •The German team began the Group C campaign with successive defeats, the first of which came against Barcelona, who struck in either half through Deco and Ronaldinho to launch a sequence which has seen the Spanish champions drop just two points in their first four games. •However, a draw away at Udinese Calcio, followed by a thrilling 4-3 home victory against the same side three weeks ago with Johan Micoud scoring twice, has boosted morale in the Bremen squad. They have the same number of points - four - as both the Italian club and Panathinaikos, so it promises to be a close and exciting race for the other qualifying berth. Eto'o hat-trick •No doubt Bremen, competing in the UEFA Champions League for the third time, would prefer this particular fixture had not come so soon after Barcelona had just run in five goals against the Greek team with Samuel Eto'o celebrating a hat-trick and Mark van Bommel and Lionel Messi also on the scoresheet in a scintillating first half. It leaves Barcelona needing just one more point to win Group C. Previous meeting •The clubs had met in UEFA competition before this season, in the UEFA Super Cup in early 1993 after both had won trophies the previous year. Bremen defeated AS Monaco FC 2-0 to win the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, while Barcelona won the last of the former European Champion Clubs' Cups with a 1-0 extra-time win against UC Sampdoria at Wembley. •The first leg of the UEFA Super Cup, in Germany, ended 1-1. The home side, coached by current Greece coach Otto Rehhagel, levelled a Julio Salinas goal with a late reply from current Bremen sports director Klaus Allofs. In the return, Barcelona, coached by Johan Cruyff, won 2-1 to lift the trophy with a 3-2 aggregate win. Final successes •In total Barcelona have won three European trophies by seeing off German opponents in the final, beginning with the 1978/79 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph which came with a 4-3 win against Fortuna Düsseldorf. In the 1997 UEFA Super Cup they claimed a 3-1 aggregate victory against BV Borussia Dortmund. uefa.com 1/33 FC Barcelona v Werder Bremen PRESS KIT Long history •Barcelona's history of European encounters with German clubs stretches back 44 years to the semi-finals of the 1960/61 European Champion Clubs' Cup where they faced Hamburger SV. They have previously been paired with German clubs in the UEFA Champions League on four occasions, all in the group stages, and this will be their 39th match against a German club. Spanish test •Bremen have played one other Spanish club in the UEFA Champions League and it came last season when they faced Valencia CF in Group G. The German club won 2-1 at the Weserstadion with Miroslav Klose cancelling out a second-minute strike by the visitors, then 2-0 at the Mestalla, with Nelson Valdez twice on target in the final seven minutes, to qualify for the knockout stages. Two defeats •The wins against Valencia made up for losses in the club's previous visits to Spain, when they were defeated and eliminated twice - in the 1960/61 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup - by Club Atlético de Madrid. Team facts: Barcelona •Bar ça are competing in their eighth UEFA Champions League campaign in the past nine seasons. In the 2003/04 season the Catalan club were involved in the UEFA Cup until elimination in the fourth round. •Since their 4-0 defeat by AC Milan in the 1993/94 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, Barça have advanced to the semi-finals of the competition twice, namely during the 1999/00 and 2001/02 seasons, where they lost on both occasions to Spanish opponents. The former came against Valencia CF who defeated Barça 5-3 on aggregate, while the latter was against Real Madrid CF who won 2-0 in Barcelona before drawing 1-1 at home to advance to the final. •In total, Barça have appeared in four European Champion Clubs' Cup finals, winning the 1991/92 competition against UC Sampdoria thanks to a 112th-minute Ronald Koeman free-kick. Previously, Barça lost on penalties to CSA Steaua Bucuresti in the 1985/86 season and 3-2 to SL Benfica in the 1960/61 season. •Bar ça won the Spanish Primera División by four points from Real Madrid CF. Villarreal CF and Real Betis Balompié followed in third and fourth place, 19 and 22 points behind the champions respectively. •Entering the competition at the start of the group stage, the Catalan team opened their account with two wins from two outings. Barça tamed Bremen in Germany on the opening matchday with goals from Deco (13) and Ronaldinho (76pen). Then Udinese, fresh from a 3-0 win against Panathinaikos, felt the wrath of Ronaldinho who bagged a hat-trick (13, 32, 90pen) with Deco (41) also on the scoresheet in a sizzling 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou. A fitting outcome to Barça's 150th game in the European Champion uefa.com 2/33 FC Barcelona v Werder Bremen PRESS KIT Clubs' Cup in which they have won 83, drawn 33 and lost 34 with 288 goals scored and 167 goals conceded. •On Matchday 3, Panathinaikos blunted the three-man attack of Barcelona with, in the end, some comfort to secure a UEFA Champions League draw which will not harm either side's chances of reaching the next stage. Only occasionally were the two goalkeepers called into action, as Ronaldinho in particular had a night of increasing – and rare – frustration. •Barcelona overwhelmed Panathinaikos on Matchday 4 with a glittering display of attacking football at the Camp Nou to move into the UEFA Champions League knockout stages. Any hope Panathinaikos had of a repeat of the first game between these sides - the goalless draw in Athens - was dashed inside the first minute as Mark van Bommel scored a scintillating opener. Samuel Eto'o (14, 40, 65) and Lionel Messi (34) then took over, with the Cameroonian registering a hat-trick and the 18-year-old Argentinian capping a magnificent individual performance with Barça's third. •The defeat of Panathinaikos on Matchday 4 was Barça's 100th match in the UEFA Champions League. In that time, they have won 53, drawn 24 and lost 23 with 193 goals scored and 120 conceded. •Of the 32 teams competing in this season's UEFA Champions League, they are second only to Real Madrid CF in terms of total matches played in UEFA club competition with 324 games in which they have won 174, drawn 75 and lost 75 with 626 goals scored and 339 goals conceded. Team facts: Bremen •Werder Bremen are involved in the UEFA Champions League for the second consecutive season and this is their third season overall. They have yet to get beyond the first knockout round of the competition. Last season, the German side advanced from the group stage only to lose 10-2 on aggregate against Olympique Lyonnais. •Bremen advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup during the 1988/89 season, but lost 1-0 on aggregate to AC Milan. •Bremen's most successful UEFA club competition season came in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a competition they won at AS Monaco FC's expense thanks to goals from Klaus Allofs (40) and Wynton Rufer (55). •Bremen finished third in last season's German Bundesliga, 18 points behind champions FC Bayern München and four points adrift of second-placed FC Schalke 04. •It was a finish that provided Bremen with a spot in the third qualifying round and a tie against Swiss champions FC Basel 1893. Basel won the first leg 2-1 thanks to goals from David Degen (28) and Julio Hernán Rossi (52) before Miroslav Klose fired a 73rd- minute lifeline for the German side. With Basel holding Bremen to a scoreless first half in the return at the Weserstadion – including a missed Johan Micoud penalty – the uefa.com 3/33 FC Barcelona v Werder Bremen PRESS KIT German side raised their performance to score three goals without reply during the second half as Klasnić (65, 73) and Tim Borowski, from the penalty spot (68), both got on the scoresheet. • If playing in front of a full and frenetic Weserstadion had threatened to cause FC Barcelona some difficulty, the Spanish champions showed no nerves as they struck in either half through Deco and Ronaldinho to secure a 2­0 victory against Bremen. • Two goals in the first eight minutes helped Panathinaikos FC earn their first points in UEFA Champions League and consign ten­man Bremen to their fourth consecutive defeat in the competition. Ezequiel González gave the home side the lead with a fifth­ minute penalty, and Evagelos Mantzios doubled the advantage three minutes later. Bremen dominated the rest of the first half and scored through Miroslav Klose just before the break, but once Ivan Klasnić was sent off, Panathinaikos held out for the win.