Werder Bremen’s Brazilian midfielder Diego produced a fine performance in the all-German UEFA Cup semi-final first leg match against Hamburg last night to survive at the top of our FTBL ranking of midfielders in the Bundesliga despite losing 20.03 rating points.

In fact, the Brazilian lost just 0.95 rating point as a result of his performance in the 0:1 loss to Hamburg, but the bulk of his rating loss derived from our multiplication of the sixth match beyond his last five by a coefficient of 0.1. Diego now has an overall rating of 130.82 points. His closest rival, Stuttgart’s Thomas Hitzlsperger, is just 0.68 rating points behind at 130.14 points.

Teammate Per Mertesacker also barely survived an exit form our FTBL rating of best defenders in the Bundesliga. His side’s loss to Hamburg cost him just 4.60 rating points. He is now in sixth place in the rating with 87.01 points over all.