Werder Bremen can look forward to a likely place in the last 16 after thrashing Dutch giants Ajax 3-0 in Bremen on Wednesday.

Leverkusen however can't be entirely sure of that after a late Shabani Nonda goal pegged them back to a 3-2 home win over Rovers.

Nonda may have been the quieter of the all-African strike partnership for Rovers this term with South African Benni McCarthy being more prolific but his spectacular volley towards the end of the clash with former Champions League finalists Bayer could earn him a permanent move from AS Roma.

"We have an option to sign Shabani permanently, but a decision hasn't been made at the moment," said Rovers manager Mark Hughes. "It is something that will be addressed at the end of the season. But his goal against Leverkusen was very important for us."

His Leverkusen counterpart Michael Skibbe still believed that the Germans could prevail next week.

"I am looking forward to next week's second-leg and I still believe that we have an excellent chance of progressing into the next stage," said Skibbe.

Bremen were masterful in their dominance of the once mighty Ajax with German internationals Per Mertesacker and Torsten Frings two of their scorers.

However coach Thomas Schaaf was still left somewhat underwhelmed.

"I think if we had taken a couple of our other chances we would be way out of sight," said Schaaf, who has seen his side slip in the title race in recent weeks.

"I really want us to go as far as possible in this competition," added Schaaf, whose team narrowly missed out on reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.