German Bundesliga

UEFA Cup 2008-09 Group Stages draw

The draw for the group stages of the 2008-09 UEFA Cup has been made, and we have some excellent fixtures within.

Portsmouth, in their debut season in Europe, will get a chance to play AC Milan at Fratton Park. Pompey are in Group E along with Herenveen, Braga and Wolfsburg.

There are eight groups in all, and 3 teams from each group qualify for the next round. They will be joined by the eight third placed teams in each Champions League group.

Group A :-

Schalke ( Germany)
Paris St.Germain ( France)
Manchester City ( England)
Racing Santander ( Spain)
FC Twente ( Netherlands)

Group B :-

Benfica ( Portugal)
Olympiakos ( Greece)
Galatasaray ( Turkey)
Hertha Berlin ( Germany)
Metalist Kharkiv ( Ukraine)

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Bayern 3-3 VFL Bochum

FC Bayern squandered a 3-1 lead as Marcel Koller’s VFL Bochum struck twice late in the game to draw at the Allianz Arena last night.

Belgian Daniel Van Buyten put the hosts ahead after fifteen minutes, but Sinan Kaloglu equalised for Bochum in the 29th minute, with the goal being created by Mimoun Azaouagh.

Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto then scored on either side of the lemon break as Bayern made it 3-1. With less than 10 minutes to go, it seemed that Bochum were resigned to losing by the same margin as they did last time to Bayern ( in April 2008). But Christophe Dabrowski pulled one back in the 83rd minute, and two minutes late, substitute Dennis Grote silenced the home crowd by heading in Bochum’s third.

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Werder Bremen 5-4 Hoffenheim

Werder Bremen scored five goals for the second successive time in the Bundesliga as they won a nine goal thriller against Hoffenheim at the Weserstadion. After beating Bayern 5-2 last time around, Bremen seemed to be in a destructive mood as they went 4-1 up after just half an hour. Teenage sensation Mezut Ozil opened the scoring in the eighth minute, but Demba Ba equalised seven minutes later for the visitors. Claudio Pizarro (16′), Diego (21′) and Aaron Hunt (30′) put the hosts 4-1 up in no time at all, as Hoffenheim were left gasping for breath. To their credit, they hit back with a Sejad Salihovic free kick in the 36th minute, and the score read 4-2 to Bremen going into the interval.

Germany 08-09 away jersey

On the hour mark, Brazilian Diego fouled Tobias Weis in the Bremen box, and Vedad Ibisevic scored from the resulting spotkick, bringing Hoffenheim one goal closer. A minute later, Bremen had Per Mertesacker sent off, thus reducing the home side to ten men.

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