Bremen (dpa) – For Werder Bremen, relegation from the Bundesliga is getting closer. Four days after the 0: 3 in the catch-up game against Eintracht Frankfurt, the penultimate table also lost the home game against VfL Wolfsburg 0: 1 (0: 0).
The Bremen team kept up with the game for 80 minutes, but even this Sunday they did not resolve the major weaknesses of this season. In the front Werder was too harmless, in the back Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst was hardly disturbed with his winning goal in the 82nd minute. “It’s getting worse,” said Werders Davy Klaassen. “If we don’t win, it will be increasingly difficult to keep the class.”
In their own stadium, the Bremen team have been without a win for more than nine months. As a result, they missed on Sunday to at least equalize with Fortuna Düsseldorf on the relegation ground on points. Mainz 05 on the first direct non-relegation zone is now six points away. «It is disappointing, but everything is still possible. We have only three points to Dusseldorf, we give everything until the end, »said captain Niklas Moisander.
The only hope now is the supposedly solvable remaining program on the last four match days. The next home game is against the old and probably also new German champions Bayern Munich. But the other three opponents are SC Paderborn, Mainz 05 and on the last matchday 1. FC Köln.
Wolfsburg, on the other hand, moved up to sixth place due to this victory and has the renewed qualification for the Europa League in their own hands. «Werder has balanced everything and was very aggressive. It wasn’t easy for us, but we passed this test today, »said Maximilian Arnold.
On the days before the game, both clubs had made a public effort. Wolfsburg coach Oliver Glasner complained about the loud behavior of the Bremen substitutes during a ghost game. Werder’s sports director Frank Baumann firmly rejected this. But shortly before the kick-off, both teams spoke in one language: All players around the middle circle symbolically dropped to their knees in order to join the worldwide protests against racism. In this game, it wasn’t just a single goal scorer who showed this gesture instead of cheering. Everyone participated here.
The two supposedly best Bremen attackers Milot Rashica (ankle injury) and Leonardo Bittencourt, who was substituted in later, were not involved in the protest and kick-off. Without them, coach Florian Kohfeldt strengthened the defensive, relied on a five-back line and thus stabilized the structure noticeably compared to 0: 3 against Frankfurt.
Werder kept the game balanced and had two good opportunities with the two substitutes Joshua Sargent (24th) and Yuya Osako (31st). But this is how it works for the Bremen team this season: if they have a problem (behind) supposedly under control, another one (front) opens up immediately. In this lineup, Werder was too harmless to attack. Because in the opposing penalty area, the team hardly ever came to a conclusion.
Wolfsburg was better in terms of the playground, but made it too little for a long time. After all, VfL had the best chance of the game early on when Weghorst appeared free in front of the goal in the 13th minute. Heavy rain and thunderstorms set in after the break – and Wolfsburg also got stronger. The Lower Saxony were physically and playfully superior to the Bremen team. Werder held out longer than against Frankfurt – but in the end not long enough.
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