Hemdani: I Drained On Diego Parade

Mar 16 2008 By Euan Mclean

DRAINED Brahim Hemdani almost slumped to the turf in exhaustion after the massive effort of keeping out Werder Bremen's onslaught on Thursday night.

But one look at Werder's star man Diego looking even worse told the Ibrox ace he had played a blinder.

Hemdani was charged with the task of snuffing out the Brazilian and stood up to the task superbly as Walter Smith's men sneaked through 2-1 on aggregate.

While Diego grabbed the only goal of Thursday's game in the Weserstadion, seeing the shattered star fading in the dying minutes was the moment Brahim knew he'd done his job.

He said: "That was the most tired I have felt at the end of a match. Werder had a lot of possession and were doing a lot of running off the ball - so it wasn't easy to cover.

"But at the end I was the one who had a big smile on my face. I particularly enjoyed seeing Diego who was worn out at the end.

"I could see he was tired so I knew we had done a good job on him.

"It was hard work especially in midfield and we had a lot of running.

"However, it was worth it because this was a great victory."

Hemdani knows what it takes to reach the UEFA Cup Final having got there with Marseille in 2004. And he rates getting past the powerful German giants as big a result as any on that glory run.

Among the massive names Marseille sent packing were Inter Milan and Liverpool before they eventually lost the final to Valencia.

And Hemdani (below) reckons Gers can emulate Marseille's charge after being paired with Sporting Lisbon in the quarter-finals.

He said: "We beat a strong side in Werder. When I was with Marseille we also saw off some top teams.

"From the beginning of this competition we have been taking it one game at a time. This was the first time we came up against a team who were physically stronger than us.

"It wasn't easy especially at free-kicks and corners where they were so dangerous.

"But we did well and our keeper was fantastic.

"Allan McGregor made some great saves and the important thing was keeping a clean sheet in the first leg at home.

"Now we can really look forward to the next round."