Claudio Pizarro fires Werder Bremen pass through Al Ain

Werder Bremen earned a narrow 2-1 victory over fighting Al Ain in the UAE-German Super Cup at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday.

Claudio Pizarro fired home the first goal for the Bundesliga giants four minutes before the break and doubled the score-line three minutes later, The Khaleej Times reports.

The Peruvian striker, who has recently returned from an ankle injury, caused a real headache for the less experienced Al Ain defenders and the perfectly deployed squad set their pace right from the onset.

In contrast, Al Ain’s Brazilian striker Emerson led some courageous attacks without much success.

In the absence of Jorge Valdivia and Jose Sand, the Brazilian’s attempts were easily blocked.

Shehab Ahmed who’s been away from the pitch for quite a long time made some shy moves on the left flank, but they were all in vain.

UAE referee Fareed Ali showed the yellow card twice in the last two minutes of the first half.

Al Ain’s defender Ismail Ahmed was cautioned for tough tackling in the 43rd minute and Bremen’s Petri Pasanen followed in the footsteps one minute thereafter. Daniel received a yellow card in the 70th minute.

Brazilian coach Antônio Carlos Cerezo made three substitutions after the break. He sent in Abdullah Sultan to substitute keeper Sultan Musabah and replaced Nasser Khamis and Hazza Salem with Mohammed Abdul Rahman and Abdul Aziz Fayez respectively.

Later Cerezo pulled out Shehab Ahmed and substituted him with Sultan Nasser and Khaled Abdul Rahman replaced Saif Mohammed. Rami Yaslem substituted Salah Salih in 80th minute.

Ayedh Shemri substituted Hilal Saeed and Abdul Razaq replaced keeper Abdullah Sultan in the dying minutes of the fast-paced clash.

Bremen head coach Thomas Chaff pulled out Pizarro and sent in Hugo Almeida. Later he sent in Marin and Borowski instead of Ozil and Frings. In the 75th minute Hunt came in to replace Niemeyer.

But, the move of the Brazilian manager paid off. Al Ain fought back very strongly and substitute Abdul Aziz Fayez (Azzouz) reduced the deficit to 1-2 at the hour mark.

Emerson sent a well placed through to Azzouz who spared no effort to beat the German keeper in great style.

Al Ain put their visitors under strong pressure and Azzouz led relentless attacks on the right flank.

Emerson was only unlucky when his long range shot hit the cross bar with less than two minutes to go.

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Video: Pizarro scores a brace for Werder Bremen. Source: Youtube

Publicado: 5/1/2010