Twin strike from Pizarro ensure AC Milan's UEFA Cup exit

27 February,2009 09:59 AM IST |   |  Agencies

Werder Bremen stunned mighty AC Milan by coming back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 and send the Italian giants crashing out of the UEFA Cup at the San Siro yesterday.


Werder Bremen stunned mighty AC Milan by coming back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 and send the Italian giants crashing out of the UEFA Cup at the San Siro yesterday.

Milan were cruising at half-time as they led 2-0 in their round of 32, second leg, tie through goals from Andrea Pirlo and Pato but a stirring second-half fightback from Werder saw them through on away goals after a 3-3 draw on aggregate.

Claudio Pizarro celebrates his goal against AC Milan yesterday. PIC/AP
The final whistle was met with a chorus of jeers from the pitiful home crowd that numbered less than 24,000.


Milan are already out of the Italian Cup and trail city rivals Inter Milan by a massive 11 points in the league, meaning the UEFA Cup had seemed their only remaining realistic hope of claiming silverware this season.

With Milan leading 2-0, the game started to peter out until the 68th minute when Pizarro headed home a Diego free-kick to inject some life into the tie.

Werder were very much in the ascendancy now and it was no surprise when they equalised 11 minutes from time with a goal of consumate simplicity. Sebastian Boenisch pumped a high ball into the box and Pizarro rose unopposed to head easily past a stranded Dida.

Other results
Metalist 2 Sampdoria 0, Moscow 2 Aston Villa 0, Hamburg 1 NEC 0, Twente 0 Marseilla 1, Wolfsburg 1, PSG 3, Galatasaray 4 Bordeaux 3, Stuttgart 1, Zenit 2
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Werder Bremen AC Milan UEFA Cup Andrea Pirlo Sebastian Boenisch