Werder Bremen need get back to normality fast with the visit of Cologne to the Weser Stadion tomorrow.

It started so brightly by cruising into a 3-0 lead in the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Sampdoria 10 days ago, but then a stoppage-time goal from Giampaolo Pazzini led to some uncertainty.

Having sold star man Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid, Bremen then lost their first Bundesliga game of the season 4-1 at Hoffenheim last weekend.

Aaron Hunt and Hugo Almeida picked up injuries which led to Sandro Wagner making his debut in the return leg against Sampdoria on Tuesday, for which only 16 fit players were named in Thomas Schaaf's squad.

And Bremen were within two minutes of being eliminated from the competition until Markus Rosenberg saved them and Claudio Pizarro sealed their passage to the group stage.

"You can't get more entertaining than that," said Schaaf. "It was only so pretty because it was successful, though.

"Nevertheless, we hope that what we experienced right at the very end in Genoa will give us additional strength and self-confidence to be able to play against Cologne in a similar way from the very first minute."

At least Schaaf has more players at his disposal tomorrow with new signing Wesley able to make his debut while Hunt has recovered from the virus which prevented him from flying to Italy.

Cologne are without the man who will go down in the history books for earning the quickest red card in Bundesliga history.

Youssef Mohamad needed just 87 seconds to be dismissed against Kaiserslautern last weekend and Kevin Pezzoni should replace him in the centre of the Goats' defence.