Barca Beat Bremen
December 6, 2006
The Catalan giants went into their final Group A match at the Camp Nou stadium needing a win against the Bundesliga leaders. Barcelona got off to the perfect start in the 13th minute, with Ronaldinho firing a low free-kick under the Bremen wall -- whose members all jumped in anticipation of a high kick -- and past goalkeeper Tim Wiese.
Eidur Gudjohnsen doubled Barca's lead five minutes later, guiding home Ludovic Giuly's cross, leaving Bremen with the nearly-impossible task of clawing their way back on onto the scoreboard.
The closest the Germans, who only needed a tie to advance, came to closing the gap, was in the second half when Daniel Jensen beat Barca keeper Victor Valdes only to be denied by the bar on a deflected cross.
Barca win a blow for Bremen
The result sees Barca finish second in the group, two points behind Chelsea, who secured top spot with a 2-0 defeat of Levski Sofia thanks to clinical finish from Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko and a fine strike from substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Bremen will now have to be satisfied with a place in the UEFA Cup.
"We never got into the game in the way we had planned," Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said after the match. "We didn't show the presence we are capable of.
"The first goal we conceded," he added. "We should never have let the ball go under the wall."
Bayern: "It's annoying that we didn't win"
Bayern Munich guaranteed themselves top spot in Group B thanks to a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan.
Both sides were already assured of qualification but a top spot was at stake and along with it, a potentially easier draw in the next round.
Roy Makaay's strike on 62 minutes looked to have given the German champions victory but Patrick Vieira popped up two minutes from time to equalize for the Series A leaders, much to the displeasure of Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who was playing his 100th Champions League match.
"Naturally, it's annoying that we didn't win," said Bayern striker Claudio Pizarro. "But what's important is that we finished top of the group."