First emotionally, then with elemental force: Jamie Leweling was the decisive man when VfB Stuttgart returned to the road to success with a 4-0 (2-0) win at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. The 24-year-old first prepared Bilal El Khannouss (40th minute) and then scored the highlight of the evening with a dream goal (44th). The final score went to Deniz Undav (79th) and Chris Führich (90th + 7th).
Before the DFB international had his shining moments, VfB had already dominated the game, but Bremen in particular missed the chance to score the first goal. Justin Njinmah completed a counterattack with a low shot towards the far corner, but the ball went just wide (3′). Shortly afterwards, Stuttgart keeper Alexander Nübel even saved twice within a few seconds against Njinmah (9th), thanks to him the game initially remained goalless.
After Undav’s offside goal, Leweling makes his big appearance
That changed for a few moments in the 23rd minute when Angelo Stiller quickly switched gears after a mistake in Werder’s build-up and played a dream pass to Undav, who scored with a chip over Mio Backhaus – however, the striker was offside a few centimeters with his shoulder before he finished (23rd). With his second chance, Undav was positioned correctly, but the shot didn’t go well and only hit the side netting (36′).
Deniz Undav was just offside in the 23rd minute.
Shortly afterwards there were Leweling’s fantastic minutes. First El Khannouss headed a smooth cross from the Stuttgart left winger to make it 1-0 (40th), then he really let it rip with the second goal.
According to league information, Leweling tried a shot from exactly 32.02 meters that fluttered into the goal at 121.64 kilometers per hour – so Backhaus didn’t have the slightest chance (44th). It was not only an exceptionally beautiful goal, but also Leweling’s first in the Bundesliga in over nine months.
“I’m happy to score a goal and set up two again in such an important game”said Leweling, who also scored the eventual 3-0, in the Sportschau interview. “I’ve been practicing these shots for a few weeks and in the final training session I hit 20 of them – it’s nice that it worked out that way. But of course it can also go across the stadium.”
Coulibaly’s dismissal ends Werder’s hopes
Stuttgart had only gotten four points from the previous five league games, and now Leweling was laying the foundation to end this misery. With a win, VfB would win back into the top 6 and make the overall picture of the season a completely positive one again. In the DFB Cup, coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team is one of the eight quarter-finalists and in the Europa League, coming ninth, they can still advance directly.
It became almost certain in the 59th minute that things would get better again in the Bundesliga. Backhaus prevented Josha Vagnoman from making it 3-0, but Karim Coulibaly had previously hit Atakan Karazor’s ankle and the Werder defender was subsequently shown a yellow-red card. With this action at the latest, the plug was pulled on the game. Bremen’s efforts could not be denied, but when they were outnumbered, not much was possible.
Undav with the final point for Stuttgart’s frequent player
Stuttgart took advantage of the comfortable situation to save energy for the last game before the winter break on Saturday against TSG Hoffenheim (3:30 p.m.) after the exhausting English weeks. It was still enough for Undav to make it 3-0 (79′) and Führich to make it 4-0 (90’+7). It will be the 25th competitive game since the Supercup against FC Bayern Munich (1:2) on August 16th, so the Hoeneß team should be looking forward to the break despite the victory.
This could also apply to Werder, who have now only picked up one point from the last four games and have slipped to twelfth place in the table. The lead over the relegation places has shrunk to five points. Coach Horst Steffen’s team still has an opportunity to end their downward slide before the new year. Bremen will play at FC Augsburg on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).