BREMEN - Werder Bremen kept their Champions League campaign on the rails with a narrow victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Markus Rosenberg, Boubacar Sanogo and Aaron Hunt were on the scoresheet for Thomas Schaaf's men, who held off the might of Real despite replies from Robinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Bremen now sit third in Group C, two points behind Madrid and Olympiacos whom they meet in the final round of fixtures in two weeks.
Werder had begun the match at the bottom of the standings, but enjoyed a dream start at the Weserstadion when Rosenberg scored after just four minutes.
A cross from the right by Clemens Fritz came off the shoulder of Sanogo and landed at the feet of the Swede, who failed to connect properly with his shot yet still managed to push it past Iker Casillas in the Madrid goal.
The Spanish visitors could have restored parity moments later but for a stunning save from Christian Vander, who parried away Sergio Ramos' drive.
At the other end of the pitch, Daniel Jensen tried his luck for the hosts with a right-footed bullet but Casillas was up to the challenge this time.
And after 13 minutes Real were back on level terms when Robinho ran at the defence before curling a shot into the bottom corner.
Bernd Schuster's men were keen to add to their two wins in the group and Marcelo should have done better with a inswinging corner from Guti which he poked over the bar from yards out.
Ramos was next in line with a shot for the Spanish champions which he drilled past the right post.
And the missed chance came back to haunt the visitors six minutes before the interval when Werder grabbed their second.
Rosenberg provided the opening with a cross from the left flank allowing Sanogo to smash a first-time shot beyond the reach of Casillas.
Real did their best to re-group during the break and came out strongly at the start of the second half with Van Nistelrooy's 12-yard strike turned away by the feet of Vander.
Werder were not to be outdone and Sanogo almost added another in the 50th minute but his header from Jensen's corner produced a brilliant reflex save from Casillas.
A third goal did arrive in the 57th minute however through Hunt, who picked up a long pass forward from Jensen to beat Real's offside trap and chip the ball over the Real goalkeeper into the bottom right corner.
Schuster's men were feeling the pressure and were lucky not to find themselves 4-1 down five minutes later when Frank Baumann's drilled shot came back off the woodwork.
Marcelo did little to help the nerves of the travelling fans when his 18-yard strike whistled narrowly wide, but Madrid managed to find the back of the net after 70 minutes.
Van Nistelrooy pushed his way through the Werder defence before lifting in a cross-shot from the right side of the penalty area beyond the reach of Vander.
Werder almost restored their two-goal lead three minutes from time. Carlos Alberto struck from the edge of the area only to see Casillas dramatically stop the ball with his feet.
But it mattered little in the end as the German side held off a late Real surge to claim three vital points.
