Diego issues Bremen SOS

Diego has called on Werder Bremen fans to get behind their side and "rescue" their UEFA Champions League campaign as they look to make up lost ground at home to Group C leaders Real Madrid CF on Wednesday.

'Hot reception'
Bremen are bottom of the section having picked up just three points from their opening four games, but the midfielder insists they should not be written off. "Bremen fans know we're counting on them to get behind the team to rescue our Champions League campaign," he said. "Real Madrid can expect a very hot reception when they come here."

Olympiacos defeat
Defeats against all three of their Group C rivals have left Bremen bottom of the section, but Diego is confident there is still time to turn their campaign round. "Our Champions League so far has been well below our expectations," he said. "We wanted to reach the second round as soon as possible but things went terribly wrong. To lose at home to Olympiacos [CFP] was very hard to swallow. We're desperate to reverse the situation and we still can. There are two games to go and we're not giving up yet."

'Motivated'
The 22-year-old Brazilian, who is now in his second season with Bremen since signing from FC Porto, scored in the 2-1 loss to S.S. Lazio on Matchday 4, before being dimissed deep into injury time for a second bookable offence. "Unfortunately I can't play [against Madrid], but we have to forget about the sad moments and strike back. We never imagined we would be in this situation but everybody is motivated to recover and make the second round. We're not dead yet and I know if things go right against Madrid we can cause an upset and qualify. If we can get a positive result against Madrid the game in Athens against Olympiacos [on Matchday 6] will become like a final. We know we can do it."

'Never give up'
With FC Schalke 04 also struggling to make the knockout stage from Group B and VfB Stuttgart already left with nothing to play for in Group E, Germany is in danger of not having a single representative left in the competition come the knockout stage. "It's not nice to see all three German sides struggling to make the second round, but I'm not the first to say Germans never give up and with two more match days to go anything can happen," Diego said. "Bremen and Schalke still have chances to make it and I really hope both can do it because that can only be good for German football."