Old boy Arnautovic pegs back Twente

Werder Bremen’s Marko Arnautovic returned to haunt his former side Twente Enschede here on Wednesday as his goal grabbed a 1-1 draw in their Champions League clash here.

Arnautovic struck 10 minutes from time shortly after Theo Janssen had opened the scoring for the hosts but the draw leaves the German side without a win in seven visits to the Netherlands.

Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf was not pleased at the Twente goal but happier with his side’s improvement in the second-half.

“We got the impression the goal we conceded was offside,” he said.

“It was important that we played better in the second-half and put them under more pressure.

“We have to take some positives from this game for our next match.”

The first-half produced little goalmouth action with the German side forcing Twent goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov into two saves first from Hugo Almeida and then veteran defender Per Mertesacker.

Werder had to take off first choice ‘keeper Tim Wiese in the 37th minute and replace him with Sebastian Mielitz.

Wiese’s injury was to a knee but the guardian doesn’t think it is too serious.

“Tim doesn’t think it is his cruciate ligament, he thinks it is just a knee strain,” said Schaaf.

Mielitz was called into action soon after replacing Wiese and saved from Marc Janko.

However, it was the hosts who broke the deadlock in the 75th minute as Janssen pounced on the rebound from Mielitz’s excellent save from Janko.

Bremen, though, were level five minutes later with a beautifully crafted goal.

Arnautovic fed Claudio Pizzarro – scorer of a hat-trick against the same opponents in last season’s Europa League group game in Bremen – and his deft little chip was taken down by Arnautovic and he fired past Mihaylov.

The visitors appeared satisfied to settle for the draw and it was the Dutch side that finished the strongest as Mielitz defied both Janko and Janssen.