Bremen vs Udinese

Two goals from Brazillian Diego helped Werder Bremen secure a comfortable 3-1 victory in the Uefa Cup. Tom Allen was spot on in finding the value here as his terrific season of football tips continues.

The Uefa Cup remains wide open at the quarter final stage, it’s 4/1 the field, and it would be a brave man to predict which side lifts the trophy.

Manchester City are the Premier League’s sole representatives left in the competition and travel to face Martin Jol’s Hamburg. Mark Hughes’ men aren’t in great form but they have saved their best efforts this season for Europe, especially on their travels, and I think they can progress.

That particular match in Germany appears to be priced correctly but fellow Bundesliga side Werder Bremen look attractive at around the 1.75 mark to get the better of Udinese in their first leg clash and can justify their position at the head of the outright market.

Bremen are traditionally strong at home, both in Europe and domestically, and this season has been no different. Just two defeats in 14 Bundelsiga matches, scoring 37 goals in the process, is a more than decent effort and Thomas Schaaf’s side’s title challenge has only been held back by woeful form on their travels.

Having narrowly failed to progress from Champions League Group B behind Panathinaikos and Inter Milan the German side drew tournament favourites AC Milan in the last 32 of this competition. A 2-2 draw in the San Siro helped them progress on away goals but they found things much easier going against St. Etienne in the next round and only two late goals from the French club provided some respectability to the 3-2 aggregate score line.

Claudio Pizarro, still on loan from Chelsea, has proved the perfect foil to talented Brazilian playmaker Diego since his arrival from Stamford Bridge and he confirmed his current wellbeing with a hat-trick on the weekend in a 4-1 win over Hannover. Torsten Frings, the veteran midfielder, stills runs the show from the centre of the park and the hosts have a strong look to their spine.

I fancied Udinese to go well in the Uefa Cup this season but while they topped Tottenham’s group with something to spare they have failed to impress and knockout stage wins over Lech Poznan and Zenit were hardly convincing. Pasquale Marino’s side find it difficult to take games to their opponents, especially away from home, and the Weserstadion is not the place to be lacking in confidence.

While Bremen are odds on I think they should be somewhere closer to the 1.60 mark to establish a first leg lead. They’ve managed eight goals in their previous two home matches on home soil, have never lost to Italian opponents in European competition and face a side languishing domestically.

Udinese, on the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Inter on the weekend, currently lie in 14th in Serie A and their season is meandering towards something of an anticlimax having promised so much following a bright start.