Blackburn frustrated by Leverkusen

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BLACKBURN, England -- Goalkeeper Brad Friedel admitted Blackburn were outdone by Bayer Leverkusen's European experience after the German outfit progressed to the UEFA Cup last 16 with a 0-0 second leg draw at Ewood Park on Thursday.

With the Bundesliga team holding a 3-2 advantage from the first-leg, Michael Skibbe's players frustrated the home side with some cynical time-wasting, feigning of injury and play-acting in a stormy last 32 clash.

But former U.S. keeper Friedel admitted that Blackburn simply paid the price for Leverkusen's nous in European competition.

He said: "Leverkusen did exactly what we expected of them because they have a lot of experience in their team and time-wasting is part and parcel of European football.

"But overall, Leverkusen probably deserved to go through on the basis of their performance in the first-leg in Germany. We had big chances late in the game. We needed them to go in if we are going to go through, but they didn't.

"I just hope we can build on this run, build on the experience we have gained this season and go on to prosper in Europe again in the future."

Rovers boss Mark Hughes claimed that the ineffective refereeing of Spanish official Alberto Undiano Mallenco contributed to the frustration on the pitch.

Hughes said: "The referee isn't the reason we were beaten over the two legs because we made mistakes in the two games, but he certainly needed to be a bit stronger.

"He should have been more dominant when they were looking to waste time and I felt he was weak in that respect.

"The damage was done in the first-leg, but we have learned from it and it's just a shame that we haven't been able to progress."

Bremen survive

Werder Bremen withstood a determined fightback from Ajax Amsterdam to move through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

Despite a 3-1 defeat in Amsterdam, the Bundesliga side progressed 4-3 on aggregate after their comprehensive first-leg win.

Four-times European champions Ajax, without the suspended Gabri and Olaf Lindenbergh and a trio of injured defenders, started well and opened the scoring after two minutes when Brazilian Leonardo beat goalkeeper Tim Wiese.

But 10 minutes later unmarked Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida headed home to leave Ajax with a mountain to climb.

Almeida wasted two good chances to put Bremen in front while a deflected shot from Wesley Sneijder just missed the target for Ajax.

On the hour Klaas-Jan Huntelaar restored Ajax's lead from Ryan Babel's cross, and Babel made it 3-1 with a fierce shot with 16 minutes remaining.

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