They will be talking about this day and this evening at SV Werder Bremen for a very, very long time. Because with an emergency team – five regular players were missing – Bremen defeated the leaders from Darmstadt 1-0 (0-0) and thus recorded a very important threesome in the promotion race of the 2nd league. In terms of points, Werder caught up with the new leaders FC St. Pauli. Niclas Füllkrug scored the winning goal in the 57th minute after fine preliminary work by Eren Dinkci. The guests were already outnumbered, Klaus Gjasula saw the red card in the 24th minute after video evidence of a foul on Romano Schmid. Of course, that played into the hands of the hosts, but they also earned this special victory with a lot of passion and playful class.
Lots of failures
SV Werder had a really bad week, almost every day there was bad news after the 1:2 defeat in Heidenheim. Due to injuries, Ömer Toprak, Marco Friedl and Mitchell Weiser signed off for several weeks. On Thursday, Marvin Ducksch tested positive for Corona, followed on the day of the game by Leonardo Bittencourt, who immediately went into quarantine. A quiet preparation is certainly different. “It doesn’t make things any easier if another mainstay fails,” said coach Ole Werner before the kick-off at Sport1, but was emphatically combative: “There’s no whining! The greed is palpable in the cabin. We want to show as a group that we can also overcome this resistance.” He let the young Eren Dinkci play in attack for Ducksch and Niklas Schmidt for Bittencourt in midfield. And behind? There, somewhat surprisingly, substitute captain Christian Groß took over the role of defense chief. With him, Milos Veljkovic and Anthony Jung formed the back three, while Manuel Mbom and Felix Agu defended on the outside. Nicolai Rapp von Groß took over the part of the six.
Almost inevitably after the many changes, Werder lacked security at the beginning. The great support from the ranks didn’t help at first. The ultras celebrated their return after the end of the Corona restrictions in the Wohninvest Weserstadion, which was sold out with 41,000 spectators except for the guest area, with a great choreography that was impressive. On the other hand, the guests set the accents and the Bremen team put a lot of pressure on them. Tim Skarke narrowly missed making it 1-0 with a concealed shot (8th). The strong Darmstadt team then weakened themselves – in the person of Klaus Gjasula, who has been collecting yellow cards like other stamps for years. Referee Robert Schröder immediately gave him a yellow card for his foul on Romano Schmid. It would have been Albander’s twelfth warning in the 19th game of the season. But the video assistant spoke up, sent the referee to the edge of the field – and according to the video images, Gjasula showed him red (24th). Absolutely understandable, because the Darmstadt player had hit Schmid’s knee with the open sole.
Werder after a red card on the trigger
The game tipped over immediately, with the Bremen team now in the majority. Niclas Füllkrug should have made it 1-0 after a fine combination via Dinkci and Schmid, but failed because of keeper Marcel Schuhen (26th) – just like three minutes later after great preparatory work by Schmidt. He, in turn, only hit the post shortly before the break (43rd). And Agu forced shoes to make the next brilliant save (45th). Werder could have been in the lead after the first half, but were also a bit lucky at the back. There were a few gaps, Mbom’s bad passes, which often forced Werder into reverse, were particularly noticeable. But Darmstadt’s Marvin Mehlem messed up what was actually a highly dangerous counterattack (28′) and Aaron Seydel (31′) shot just over it. Werder still had to be extremely careful against these snappy Hessen.
It’s always the best idea to play up front yourself. And that’s what the green-whites did after the change. Schmid sent the fast Dinkci on his way. And the 20-year-old skillfully prevailed against the experienced Jannik Müller (28) and crossed perfectly to Füllkrug, who coldly made it 1-0 (52nd). His 14th goal of the season, a great goal! The Weser Stadium trembled. Füllkrug greeted his missing strike partner Ducksch with his typical goal celebration. Who would have thought all this after the many failures? Not much was expected from Dinkci after his weak performances in the past few weeks – and then such a strong action! He could have added it himself, maybe even had to, but decided alone in front of the goal for the short corner that Müller closed (63′).
Werder continued to determine the game with a majority. Only Rapp was unable to take part after a long run, plagued by cramps, he left the field and was replaced by Ilia Gruev (74th). Schmid had the preliminary decision on the foot, but only put the ball on the post (79th). So had to keep shaking. Especially because substitute Nick Woltemade tried a trick after a fine individual performance and failed. A streaker on the lawn also extended the playing time. But then it was over – and a green and white party began.
The live ticker to read
Secure now: We give you 1 month WK+ for free!
–
