5 Conclusions from the UEFA Cup Round of 16

By: Jan | March 13th, 2008

1. Bayern’s bench-warmers like their warm benches.
One of the benefits of Ottmar Hitzfeld’s rotation policy is that someone like Jan Schlaudraff gets to play the odd 15 minutes now and then. It can help keep the players in the squad happy, because they’ll get their chances and playing time. Though, judging by Bayern’s performance against Anderlecht, you got the feeling, that Bayern’s bench is so comfortable and well paid, that there is no need to prove anything, especially when Hitzfeld will rotate you in and out of the squad in due time anyway.

Anderlecht won the game 2-1 and can claim to be the first team to beat Bayern at home this season. This probably makes up a bit for the humiliating 5-0 in the first leg.

2. Michael Rensing owns Rene Adler and Manuel Neuer.
In his dreams or on his Atari VCS 2600. While an end to Oliver Kahn’s career wasn’t yet in sight, Michael Rensing looked like a worthy successor whenever he played. Now, that he is just a few months from becoming Bayern’s new #1, he displays unusual lapses of concentration (as in: makes mistakes (as in: vs. Anderlecht)). Maybe because there’s nothing to prove at the moment / until transfer rumours involving another goalkeeper and Bayern surface.

3. Werder Bremen can’t pull off miracles all the time.
They already had their Wunder von der Weser this season, when they beat Real Madrid at home, so there wasn’t anything left for the second leg against Rangers I guess. It was a dominant performance by Bremen, but a great goalkeeper and other missed chances kept the score at 1-0 until the end. At least Bremen fans now know how Porto fans must have felt against Schalke. Both need to accept that they lost the tie in the first leg though. And that was where Bremen didn’t have a great goalkeeper. With a bit of mean spirit I can now officially declare that Tim Wiese lost the round of 16 for Werder Bremen. A title held by Miroslav Klose the year before. And the year before it was Tim Wiese again.

Bremen are out of the title race (presumably) and out of the UEFA Cup. Now all they have to play for is the Champions League places and then the nail biting considering Diego can begin.

4. Diego knows how to spell B-U-Y M-E.
He should have scored two of those to force extra time though.

5. Hamburg fought for 90 minutes and all they got was the Intertoto Cup.
The first encounter between Leverkusen and Hamburg was a disappointing anti-climactic affair, but the return leg at Hamburg made up for it. It was the best match of this UEFA Cup round. Leverkusen took the lead twice. Hamburg came back twice and ultimately won the match 3-2. When Hamburg took the lead, they had ten minutes to score a fourth and winning goal, but it wasn’t to be. Leverkusen’s coach Michael Skibbe admitted that his side were a bit lucky this time. They could count on another great performance by Rene Adler as well. I would have preferred Hamburg to go through, but Leverkusen can redeem themselves by making it to the semi final.