Werder Bremen 1 - 1 AC Milan

Diego hits back for Bremen

Updated: February 18, 2009, 9:40 PM UK

AC Milan earned a valuable away draw at Werder Bremen in the first leg of their UEFA Cup Round of 32 tie.

• Ancelotti content with draw

Filippo Inzaghi opened the scoring after 36 minutes for AC Milan, with Diego equalising in the 84th minute after Bremen forced a number of great chances.

Milan were without a number of top players including Kaka, Gennaro Gattuso and Alessandro Nesta while loan star David Beckham started the game on the bench.

That seemed to encourage Bremen, who attacked from the start. There was less than a minute on the clock when Alexandros Tziolis found room in front of goal, but his shot was weak.

Hugo Almeida also had two early chances, but his header and shot were both off target.

Inzaghi fell foul of the offside trap several times, while Clarence Seedorf broke through on goal but was denied as Tim Wiese burst off his line to claim the ball.

Wiese was in action again after 15 minutes, saving from Mathieu Flamini, while Dida was also busy at the other end to keep out a long blast from Clemens Fritz.

Milan grabbed the lead in the 36th minute as Flamini picked out Inzaghi who finished at the second attempt.

Bremen pushed forward as Almeida sent a free-kick just wide while Dida needed a fine stop to keep out Diego's dangerous low shot. Almeida then sent a header inches wide of the left post.

The Italians stood up well in defence and looked dangerous on the counter-attack, with Inzaghi coming close to a second in the 66th minute as his shot from the right beat Wiese but came back off the crossbar.

Bremen's effort was finally rewarded with an equaliser six minutes from time A high ball into the area was headed by Almeida to Diego, and the Brazilian chested down the ball and then beat Dida with a shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

The hosts almost grabbed a winner at the death as Massimo Ambrosini's headed against his own crossbar under pressure.

Ancelotti content with draw

Carlo Ancelotti is confident AC Milan will progress to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen in their first-leg encounter.

Ancelotti believes his team will emerge victorious in the second leg next week and book a tie against either Olympiacos or St Etienne.

"We played a good game," said the Milan coach. "We suffered, yes, but it's normal to suffer in some games.

"However, it went well despite the fact that they're a bigger team physically.

"The result is also good, we're playing the return match at the San Siro, I'm looking ahead with optimism.

"There was space in the first half and we did well on the wings. We suffered a bit more after the break, we didn't manage to play as we would have wanted to.

"The whole team played well, they fought for every ball, suffered together at the end."