It’s clear to see that Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is eagerly awaiting his first Champions League game in charge of his new club. At the press conference he spoke very open and honestly about his preparations for the up-coming clash with Werder Bremen: “Of course it’s something very special for me and also because it’s against a German club”, admitted Schuster who has been working vey specifically towards this tie: “This was a little easier for me as I’ve never really lost sight of the Bundesliga. Aside from that I still have a good connection to the Bremen coach and co-coach. I played a number of international matches together with Wolfgang Rolff and later on we took the same trainer course together. We’ve been friends since then. I got to know Thomas Schaaf over the years as a Champions League commentator”, explained Schuster.

The truth is that the Madrid trainer won’t have been able to filter too much information from Rolff and Schaaf. The Werder coached remarked: “I know Bernd Schuster quite well but our discussions were never enough to fill a complete evening. It’s no wonder that Real haven’t set their concentration on just these conversations. They had a scout in the crowd last Friday evening as Werder tumbled 3:0 to Borussia Dortmund but they are not about to have their view of things clouded by this one Werder performance: “Bremen haven’t made a particularly good start to the league but I’m convinced that we’ll see a very different Werder on Tuesday than we saw last Friday evening in Dortmund. Everyone will want to prove himself tomorrow. The tea will want to show waht they’re capable of and that Bremen can really play good football.”

Bernd Schuster has been particularly wary of Diego in his preparations with his team for the match: “We have analysed it and he is a very important figure in the Werder game, maybe the most important individual since the loss of Torsten Frings. He is currently the head of the team, everything goes through him. He is the first option when they play out from the back and the strikers are focused on him. We will have to keep Diego on a short lead. He is having a good season and really stuck out last time around.”

Aside from the abilities of Diego, Schuster has also warned his team of the danger the German side propose from set pieces. That was made clear on Monday by Christoph Metzelder: “We are aware of Bremen’s advantage in that area. It has got to be our plan to keep them working and avoid giving away dead ball situations.” The Real coach has set his mind on two distinct points: “Firstly we must concentrate fully on preparing for the game. Secondly we have this stadium and our own fans behind us. They’ll really give us the support we need.”

By way of thanking the supporters, the coach would very much like to guide his side to the final – a very private goal of the German trainers: “I would very much like to win this title and I am working very hard with my team towards achieving just that. Since I’ve been a coach, I very much enjoy the atmosphere of a final. In the last few years I haven’t always had luck on my side but maybe this time it will be different”, commented Schuster who, in his first outing as a coach in the Champions League, would very much like to take a step in the planned direction.

Johnnie Muldoon