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Werder Bremen’s Miroslav Klose (left) and Johan Micoud celebrate after their match in Bremen on Wednesday |
London: On a remarkable night of Champions League comebacks, Werder Bremen scored twice in the last three minutes to beat Juventus 3-2 in the first knockout round first legs.
Inter Milan recovered from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 at Ajax Amsterdam while Rangers twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Villarreal in Glasgow.
Werder enjoyed a topsy-turvy night against Serie A leaders Juventus, leading 1-0 at halftime after a scrambled goal by fullback Christian Schulz.
Juventus hit back to lead with goals by Pavel Nedved (73) and David Trezeguet (82) but Tim Borowski’s near-post flick levelled the scores in the 87th minute and Johan Micoud then scrambled in an injury-time winner.
Ajax produced one of their best first-half performances of the season to lead Inter with goals by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Mauro Rosales inside the first 20 minutes.
Inter kept cool however, and after hitting the bar twice in the same attack, pulled one back with a deflected Dejan Stankovic shot three minutes into the second half and poured on the pressure before equalising when Julio Cruz swept in from close range four minutes from time.
Villarreal continue to impress in their debut season in Europe’s elite competition, though they still have work to do after twice allowing Rangers back into the tie.
An inexplicable handball by Croatian striker Dado Prso allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to drive in an early penalty, the Scottish side levelling with a superb Peter Lovenkrands shot after 22 minutes.
Diego Forlan controversially sprung the offside trap to put Villarreal 2-1 up in the 35th minute then missed a sitter before Rangers were handed a lifeline eight minutes from time when Juan Manuel Pena deflected a cross into his own net.