UEFA Champions League/Werder Bremen 0; Lyon 3: Olympique Lyon moved to the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals last night with a ruthless 3-0 victory over a Werder Bremen side that paid a high price for their dismal finishing.
The contrast between the two sides in front of goal could not have been more clear, as Lyon took three of only five clear chances they created while Bremen blew their European hopes with a series of misses.
Sylvain Wiltord finished off a swift break in the ninth minute to put Lyon ahead and, after relentless pressure from the home side, they sealed a great win with two fine goals in four second-half minutes.
Mahamadou Diarra lashed in from outside the box in the 77th minute for the second and a stunning free-kick from Juninho Pernambucano rounded off the scoring.
Lyon's plan was clear from the start - sit deep and look to hurt the Germans with long balls down the flanks.
That tactic paid off early, as Florent Malouda's lightning burst down the right caught the home defence by surprise. Diarra's cross was artfully touched on by Pierre-Alain Frau to Sidney Govou.
He was unable to make good contact but the ball came out to the unmarked Wiltord, who tapped in the first goal.
Bremen's worst miss of the night came from Nelson Valdez, who was put clean through on goal with 20 minutes to go only to squirm a shot wide.
Within a minute of coming on as a substitute for Wiltord, Jeremy Clement teed up Diarra to crack in from 20 metres with 13 minutes remaining. Juninho then scored from even further out to compound the misery for Bremen, who continued piling balls forward to the end with no reward.
WERDER BREMEN: Reinke, Pasanen, Ernst, Stalteri, Ismael, Micoud, Jensen, Magnin, Borowski (Hunt 61), Klose, Haedo Valdez. Subs Not Used: Walke, Davala, Klasnic, Zidan, Banecki, Schulz. Booked: Borowski.
LYON: Coupet, Abidal, Diatta, Cris, Essien, Diarra, Juninho, Malouda, Frau (Nilmar 63), Govou (Ben Arfa 88), Wiltord (Clement 77). Subs Not Used: Puydebois, Berthold, Benzema, Gomez. Booked: Govou, Wiltord. Goals: Wiltord 9, Diarra 77, Juninho 80.
Referee: F De Bleeckere (Belgium).
