Bundesliga: Werder Bremen fights for a draw against Leverkusen

When SV Werder Bremen faced Bayer Leverkusen for the last time, the world was a different place. Back in April of this year, midfielder Naby Keita first caused a bit of a stir because he refused to get on the Bremen team bus and was therefore banned from the squad for eternity. Then a football game was played, which Leverkusen won 5-0, maintaining their aura of invincibility and becoming German champions for the first time. But the earth keeps turning – so fast, in fact, that Bremen, who were hopelessly inferior six months ago, were the team that would have had more than just a 2-2 draw in the top Bundesliga game on Saturday evening. And that meant on the other side: the Leverkusen team, who had recently been indomitable, could be very happy that they had at least taken a spot out of Bremen’s Weserstadion, where once again no Naby Keita could be seen.

The fact that Leverkusen’s season hasn’t got off to as great a start as the last one was shown, among other things, by the fact that coach Xabi Alonso subjected his team to a kind of core renovation after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw in Brest. The score sheet showed seven changes: captain Lukas Hradecky was back between the posts; Defenders Jeremie Frimpong and Edmond Tapsoba took up their traditional roles, as did midfielders Granit Xhaka, Robert Andrich and striker Victor Boniface. All of them proven master footballers – but it didn’t look really masterful that evening.

From the start, the Bremen team tried to reorganize the situation, and initially there were no parallels to the previous encounter. In the first minute it was playmaker Romano Schmid who tipped the ball to striker Marvin Ducksch, but his shot was parried by Leverkusen goalkeeper Hradecky. After a neat through pass from Mitchell Weiser, Ducksch then tried to lob over Hradecky, who had moved a little too far forward, but he was just able to pluck the ball down from around 17 meters. And after a quarter of an hour, Ducksch continued this spectacular private duel when he flicked the ball from the left edge of the penalty area into the top right corner – but Hradecky had his fingers in the game again and prevented Leverkusen from going behind, which would have already been deserved at this point. Because wherever you looked, green and white ruled everywhere. The Bremen team performed completely differently than, for example, in the recent 5-0 defeat against FC Bayern. They were courageous, advanced as a group, looked to win the ball early, and they were constantly coming up with something new with the ball.

Unfortunately, at least from Werder’s point of view, there was little to be seen from the green and white in the first half, exactly when it would have been particularly important. After half an hour, Leverkusen’s Frimpong crossed into the Bremen penalty area, where striker Boniface had a comfort zone around him that was enough to heave the ball into the goal: 1-0 for the Werkself, who exuded none of the esprit and brilliance that that we got used to in the previous season. But there is no denying that efficiency is also a real top team virtue, and from that point of view, the Leverkusen team were able to go into the break in great spirits because Weiser’s shot on the move went just wide of the goal.

However, the Leverkusen team came back from the locker room feeling lucky and with a tighter posture, which helped to slow down the opponent’s momentum and regain a little control. The ball now circulated a little better and the game was able to move a few meters further into Bremen’s half. This gave the Werkself a breathing space, which, however, turned out to be the calm before the next Bremen offensive storm after a missed great chance from Boniface.

Coach Ole Werner’s team did not lose faith in this phase either and demonstrated their legitimate interest in equalizing. Ducksch was initially denied again by Hradecky, who was in an excellent position, but the striker continued to work and wait until he finally received a cross from Julian Malatini and headed the ball over the Leverkusen goalkeeper to make it 1-1. The obligatory foghorn in Bremen’s Weser Stadium sounded as a sign of encouraging news to all Hanseatic townspeople: With his goal, Ducksch broke a streak of 161 days without a home goal – SV Werder has mainly recorded its points on away trips this season.

Felix Agu scores an own goal shortly before the end

But the wave of euphoria hadn’t even flowed all the way down the Weser before disillusionment began to spread again among the Bremen fans. Just a few minutes later, the Leverkusen team pushed forward on the left, a sharp cross pass reached the Bremen penalty area – and Felix Agu, who was very lively in this game, was only able to prevent Frimpong, who was standing behind him, from scoring by putting the ball in front of him maneuvered his own goal (78th). It wasn’t deserved.

But Werder wasn’t done with this football game yet: Substitute Justin Njinmah was met by Derrick Köhn in the 90th minute, he kept track and passed it back to playmaker Romano Schmid, who immediately fired a powerful shot. The ball whizzed past Hradecky into the net to make it 2-2, equalizing in literally the last minute – Leverkusen’s absolute showpiece discipline until the end. But the earth may continue to turn inexorably, some things never change: The Weserstadion, which is as feared as it is known for exciting floodlit evenings, was once again able to live up to its reputation.