The negative series has stopped: After four defeats in a row, SV Werder Bremen fought for a deserved 1-1 (0-0) at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday evening and after a difficult week with many headlines due to future changes (Woltemade and Dinkci). and injuries (Njinmah) demonstrated great morale.
The guests took the lead with a goal from Milos Veljkovic (62′), then conceded an equalizer from Tuta (77′) after a red card for Jens Stage (73′). In a thrilling game, Frankfurt’s goalscorer Tuta (87th) also flew off the pitch. With 31 points, Werder remains in tenth place and remains in solid midfield even after matchday 28. For Frankfurt it was a setback in the fight for places for international business.
Werder coach Ole Werner made four changes to the starting line-up compared to the 2-0 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg the previous week. For Redsinner Anthony Jung, he brought in Amos Pieper in the back three, who had not played a competitive game for six months due to his broken ankle. Jens Stage, Senne Lynen and Mitchell Weiser returned to the first eleven after being suspended, but Olivier Deman and Nick Woltemade had to go to the bench. Skelly Alvero was missing due to injury.
Schmid with Ducksch in the Werder attack
Woltemade’s exclusion was particularly interesting after his somewhat idiosyncratic change announcement during the week (going to VfB Stuttgart). “But that has nothing to do with it,” the coach claimed on DAZN before the game started. There are tactical reasons. Werner relied on a compact three-man midfield with Stage, Lynen and Leonardo Bittencourt, with Romano Schmid and Marvin Ducksch forming the attack.
Jens Stage misses a chance to make it 1-0.
Photo: IMAGO/nordphoto GmbH / Bratic
But Werder were initially challenged at the back against the bold Hessen and were lucky that Philipp Max hit the ball over the goal after a beeper error (6th). Returnee Pieper immediately made things better when he sent Schmid on his journey. However, the poisonous Austrian was denied by Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp and was said to have been offside (12′). The scene still showed quite well that Werder could definitely have chances against this somewhat unstable Frankfurt defense.
The hosts had a certain advantage and had the next opportunity to score through Omar Marmoush, which Werder keeper Michael Zetterer defused (18th), but Werder held up well. On the other hand, Stage should have made it 1-0 after a fine combination via Ducksch, Schmid and Bittencourt, but couldn’t get the ball past Trapp into the goal (25th).
Pieper limps off the pitch
Afterwards, both teams had to struggle with the loose pitch and their own shortcomings. There were a number of ball losses and hardly any flow of the game. That was tough stuff for the spectators in the sold-out Deutsche Bank Park with 58,000 spectators. Until shortly before the break the players suddenly played wild and gave each other chances. But Marmoush was again denied by Zetterer (42′), while on the other hand Trapp reacted brilliantly to a header from Pieper (45′).
The result was absolutely fine. Werder could be satisfied with their performance in the sixth place team up to that point. However, the mood darkened shortly after the restart. Pieper was lucky that his clinging to Robin Koch wasn’t punished with a penalty, but at the same time he was very unlucky: his old foot injury had apparently re-opened during the duel, he hobbled off the pitch and had to be replaced by Julian Malatini (51′).
Milos Veljkovic celebrates his goal to make it 1-0 with his teammates.
Photo: Andreas Gumz
The game could also have been over early for junior Dina Ebimbe, but referee Robert Hartmann waived the traffic light card after the Frankfurt player, who had already been warned, fouled Ducksch (54th). Annoying for Werder. Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller reacted immediately and replaced Ebimbe.
The game remained quite disjointed with many intense duels and numerous ball losses.
So the stationary ball had to help, which is actually not a Bremen specialty. But standard shooter Ducksch had positioned his right foot better this time. His free kick cross found Stage, whose shot Trapp was able to fend off, but Veljkovic made it 1-0 (62′).
Ducksch sees yellow again for complaining
Now things got even more hectic. The Hessians pushed for an equalizer, the Hanseatic League defended passionately – but Stage did so too passionately. He cleared Jean-Mattéo Bahoya in the opposing penalty area. Referee Hartmann first waited for the Frankfurt counterattack, then showed the Bremen player yellow, only to raise the score to red after the video assistant intervened and viewed the TV images on the sidelines. A right decision, Stage caught Bahoya almost at knee height (73′).
Being outnumbered made it even more difficult for the guests – and it only took four minutes until Tuta equalized with a header. However, the Brazilian had previously pushed Veljkovic slightly, which went unpunished. A tricky decision that particularly annoyed Ducksch. But he received a yellow card for complaining – his ninth of the season.
The final act of a turbulent game: Referee Robert Hartmann initially shows Tuta the yellow-red card. Later he corrects himself according to the slow motion and decides on a straight red.
Photo: Arne Dedert
Shortly afterwards he called it a day and was replaced by Woltemade. Things were getting more and more heated on the pitch – and Lucas Silva Melo blew the fuses. The Frankfurt player hit Felix Agu’s Achilles tendon, but at first he only saw a yellow-red, then after another VAR intervention he was correctly shown red (87′). This meant there was a level playing field again.
The fight continued, but there was no winner, although Werder could already call themselves the moral winners and can look forward to the next game against league leaders Bayer Leverkusen with confidence. However, Stage (red) and Friedl (fifth yellow card) will be missing on April 14th.
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