Inter Milan finished second in UEFA Champions League Group B after losing 2-1 to Werder Bremen.
Pizarro and Rosenberg strikes put Werder into Uefa Cup
Inter Milan finished second in UEFA Champions League Group B after losing 2-1 to Werder Bremen in Germany.
Jose Mourinho's side had already qualified for the knock-out phase but dropped from the head of the table after second-half goals from Claudio Pizarro and Markus Rosenberg, with Zalatan Ibrahimovic netting a late consolation.
Panathinaikos beat Anorthosis Famagusta 1-0 in the group's other game which allowed the Greek side to go top and Werder to leap-frog Famagusta into third place and qualify for the Uefa Cup.
Werder started brightly, winning two corners within the first three minutes, the first of which saw Inter keeper Julio Cesar winded when coming out to punch away under heavy pressure from Sebastian Prodl, but he was able to continue.
Then in the fifth minute Torsten Frings shot well wide when teed-up on the edge of the box, although he did better with a long-range effort four minutes later but Cesar was able to save easily diving to his left.
Pizarro then saw his shot from inside the area deflected wide, before Adriano had a chance to put the visitors in front in the 18th minute when getting onto a great Mancini through-ball but keeper Tim Wiese was out quickly and did enough to put the striker off and gather.
Frings was booked in the 28th minute after fouling Richard Quaresma on the right edge of the box, with Adriano taking the subsequent free-kick but his left-footed effort went well over.
The best chance of a poor first-half came a minute before the break when Pizarro met a Mesut Ozil corner from the right with a header at the near post but Cesar made a great reaction save.
Second period
Rosenberg fired just wide from the edge of the box soon after the second period got under way.
Pizarro then shot over from close range after a good Werder move down the left, before Quaresma shot wide from long range at the other end.
Inter almost took the lead from an Esteban Cambiasso corner from the right on 55 minutes but Nicholas Burdisso's header from 10 yards was cleared off the line by Clemens Fritz on the far post.
Two minutes later Pizarro forced Cesar into a good save and then finally put the home side ahead in the 63rd minute when reacting first to a rebound from Ozil's long distance shot which Cesar could only parry.
Cesar had to parry another shot from Ozil before Aaron Hunt shot just wide from long distance in the 77th minute.
Inter could then have levelled a minute later but substitute Mario Baletelli headed well over from close range with a free header.
Werder then doubled their advantage on 81 minutes when Ozil made a great cutback from the left to allow Rosenberg to score into the right corner.
Inter substitute Ibrahimovic shot wide of the right post before he got a late consolation with a fantastic strike in off Werder's left post with two minutes to go.
Werder substitute Daniel Jensen could then have restored the two-goal advantage deep into injury time but then Cesar made a great save.
| Werder Bremen |
Team Statistics |
Internazionale |
| 2 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 10 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 5 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 10 |
Corners |
3 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
18 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
6 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 82.4 |
Passing Success |
72.8 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
18 |
| 84.6 |
Tackles Success |
83.3 |
| 60.3 |
Possession |
39.7 |
| 59.2 |
Territorial Advantage |
40.8 |
|
