Werder Bremen welcome the Spanish and UEFA Cup Champions FC Valencia to the Weser Stadium on Wednesday September 29th.  This game will be Werder Bremen's first Champions League home game in 10 years. 

"This game is very important because we have already lost our first game against Inter Milan.  If we want to advance to the second round we need to put forward a top performance on Wednesday evening." says Paul Stalteri

Werder Bremen have been forced to make many changes to the line-up for this match due to numerous injuries and the suspension of central defender Valerin Ismael.  Hoping desperately for a speedy recovery from Captain Frank Baumann, Werder were informed before practice that he would not be able to play on Wednesday night.  He will remain tentative for the weekend match against Bayern Munich. 

"We definitely are not in the best situation with injuries.  We are playing against perhaps the best team in Europe at the moment and we are struggling to get a full team on the pitch.  In saying that, the team remains confident that we can work together to overcome the obstacles in our way." says Paul Stalteri

Paul Stalteri is expected to switch from leftback to replace injured Petri Pasanen on the right. 

Werder Bremen fans can also expect to see a full out attack as www.werder-online.de is reporting that the team will play with three strikers on Wednesday night.  Miroslav Klose, Nelson Valdez and Ivan Klasnic are all expected to be in the starting 11.

The match will begin at 20:45 (local time).

Visit Paul Stalteri's UEFA Champions League Player Profile.