St Etienne's fightback was too little too late to stop Werder Bremen reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup yesterday.

The German club progress 3-2 on aggregate and will learn their last-eight opposition when the draw takes place in Nyon, tomorrow.

Sebastian Prodl gave St Etienne a mountain to climb, powerfully heading a corner from Torsten Frings past keeper Janot after only six minutes.

Claudio Pizarro scored his fifth European goal of the season, heading Mesut Özil's left-wing cross into the bottom corner shortly before the half hour to give Bremen a comfortable 2-0 lead by halftime.

Past the hour Yohan Benalouane gave St Etienne a glimmer of hope by heading the ball in at the far post after the Bremen defence had failed to clear their lines.

St-Etienne scored an equaliser in added time. Payet put Sebastien Grax in the clear and the 24-year-old scores his first goal in UEFA club competition with a low shot past Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese.

Other French club Marseille needed extra time goal to draw against Ajax and reach the quarter-finals.

Enyong Enoh opened the score and Miralejm Sulejmani levelled the aggregate score for Ajax in normal time after Marseille had pulled a goal through Niang.

Tyrone Mears headed in from close range in extra time for Marseille to make it 2-2 and progress 4-3 on aggregate. Ajax also had Silva sent off towards the end.