Current Bundesliga: Bremen wins, Gladbach celebrates late

BBefore the fight for the championship between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern on Saturday evening, perhaps for the last time this season, there was anything resembling tension, the focus was on the relegation battle. Werder Bremen won a Bundesliga game for the first time since November 7th by beating Heidenheim 2-0, while FC St. Pauli surprisingly beat Hoffenheim 1-0.

FC Augsburg, in ninth place, had already got rid of all relegation worries on Friday evening with a 2-0 win against 1. FC Köln. From tenth place onwards, everyone still urgently needs points to stay in it. After a 0-1 loss in Mönchengladbach even the Tenth Union Berlin. And at least until Sunday, VfL Wolfsburg occupies a direct relegation spot. All results can be found here.

Werder Bremen actually scored two goals and won a game?

Yes, with a very long run-up. In the first half, Bremen’s exploitation of chances could be described as a thwarting of chances. At first the stadium cheered about the supposedly redeeming opening goal. But while Olivier Deman stumbled to put the ball into the Heidenheim goal, Jovan Milosevic drove goalkeeper Frank Feller into a parade while he was no longer passive offside – referee Florian Badstübner disallowed the goal (29th). Enter Milosevic number two: After good preparatory work by Romano Schmid, he slotted the ball past the empty goal in the six-meter area (36th). And finally Schmid Feller (replacement for the injured Diant Ramaj) dribbled out, but then shot onto the outside post and into the side netting in the second attempt (45th + 2).

If there was any need for proof that Werder Bremen is fighting against relegation primarily because of a grotesquely weak offensive, there it was. Werder were undoubtedly superior against the bottom of the table, with ball possession values ​​approaching 70 percent at times. And the Bremen team could also be sure of the support of the fans: the Ultra singer gave a special speech before kick-off so that there would be no doubt about it.

In the second half, Milosevic made appearance number three, after a nice cross from Schmid he scored with his head, this time everything was legal (57th). Heidenheim now had to do more, given that they were eight points behind Werder in 16th place, but instead caught a counterattack in stoppage time, and now Bremen was suddenly lucky: Justin Njinmah missed in front of Feller, but the ball still flew off the head of defender Hennes Behrens and into the goal. And Daniel Thioune achieved his first win as Werder coach in the fourth attempt.

Is a 17-year-old now Gladbach’s hope in the relegation battle?

It’s remarkable that Borussia coach Eugen Polanski gave his talent Wael Mohya a place in the starting line-up for the first time in the crucially important home game against Union Berlin. And the young man did and did, dribbled and tricked, took free kicks and ran on guard when Rocco Reitz prepared Kevin Diks’ supposed opening goal in the 65th minute. Unfortunately, Reitz was just offside, so he should have left the ball to the 17-year-old.

The Gladbachers bit their teeth against the Iron Men many a time and had a variety of opportunities. Right at the beginning, when Christopher Trimmel saved the Berliners in desperate need after a mistake by goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow. That Trimmel, whose shirt number 38 is no longer current this week – the Austrian is now 39 years old. He could therefore be the father of Mohya, the new hope of the foal team. This in turn is 16 years older than a real foal; the veterinarian only uses the term until a horse has completed its first year of life. But that’s only on the sidelines.

Much more important: Borussia made it 1-0 thanks to Diks’ late penalty and stopped the downward trend after seven games without a win. The video referee took corrective action and moved the location of Stanley Nsoki’s foul on Hugo Bolin to the penalty area. Gladbach put a few places between themselves and the red zone. Did Polanski save his job with this? But no! There was no coaching discussion at all, assured sports director Rouven Schröder even before the almost zero number against Union.

Will the surprise team Hoffenheim suddenly lose in the fight for the Champions League places?

In any case, the starting position was clear: the third team met the third from last. But the Kraichgauer failed to crack the Hamburgers despite a superior first half hour. Even the old fox Andrej Kramaric didn’t manage to overcome Nikola Vasilj; the St. Pauli goalkeeper parried his shot as well as Grischa Prömel’s follow-up shot (11th). And Vasilj risked his life again and again, for example when he messed up a game opening and clashed badly with Prömel seconds later.

Little by little, the Kiez kickers got better into the game – and immediately before the break they scored the opening goal: A quick attack on the right side, a perfect cross from Anatolis Saliakos and a header from Mathias Pereira Lage, whose core competencies actually lie elsewhere – the outsiders were already in the lead. And although they were in great danger a few times in the second half, Hoffenheim lacked penetration this time. For the first time this calendar year, coach Christian Ilzer’s team failed to score a goal of their own. Meanwhile, St. Pauli collected six points within seven days and significantly improved their starting position in the relegation battle.

And Urs Fischer leads Mainz out of the relegation zone?

If it weren’t for FC Augsburg’s astonishing record under Manuel Baum (second place in the table in the second half of the season), the Swiss Fischer would be the candidate for the title of coach of the hour. In Leverkusen, a Champions League candidate won a point away for the third time (although Bayer 04’s chances of this are slowly dwindling if Stuttgart beat Wolfsburg on Sunday). Mainz is currently seventh in the second half of the season.

Sheraldo Becker, whom Mainz borrowed from Osasuna, scored with a beautiful volley to make it 1-0 for the guests, mainly because Fischer knew and appreciated him from their time together at Union Berlin. Leverkusen only managed to equalize in the 88th minute through Jarell Quansah.

The man of the day in Leverkusen was referee Tobias Stieler with a daring performance after the VAR decision. “We have checked a possible penalty for Leverkusen, the pictures clearly show a handball,” he spoke to the stadium audience at the microphone in the first half – and then made the punch line: “Nevertheless: In the previous attack phase, number 20 Leverkusen was in an offside position. Final decision: offside.” What was clear was that the referees also continued to provide entertainment in this Bundesliga relegation battle.