The job’s been done and it’s time to move along now for the Green-Whites after they clinched a place in the last sixteen of the UEFA Cup. It was a narrow win for Thomas Schaaf’s men in Braga on Thursday night but, considering the 3:0 aggregate lead from the first leg, it was a must win tie for Bremen which they did in convincing, if rarely inspiring, fashion.

There was little time to spend analysing the game though with the next challenge – Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga – just a day away: “We had hoped that it would be even easier but we gave away a lot of possession which caused us to become a little uneasy and left us doing a lot of running. It wasn’t until late on that we got a grip on what had to be done, which I would have liked to have seen being done much earlier”, admitted Thomas Schaaf.

Werder’s general manager Klaus Allofs was able to see things from the players point of view too though: “Going into a game like that, three goals up, is not a normal set of circumstances. That can lead to a lack of consistency.” Allofs went on then to comment on the two players making their international debuts for the Green-Whites, Mesut Özil and Sebastian Boenisch: “If Mesut works hard on himself, we will have a lot of fun with him in the side. Sebastian was out of action for six months but, watching what he showed in flashes, I’m looking forward to seeing him when he’s fully fit.”

The final word on the success of Thursday evening was left to Daniel Jensen, who once again impressed with an excellent performance: “As the game went on we got more and more of a grip on proceedings and in the end we deserved to win. I think we can be satisfied with that.”