Werder Bremen celebrated the long-awaited first home win of the season in the Bundesliga. And that was a clear 5-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Werder got off to a flying start, the first quarter of an hour was desolate for the guests. Goals from Niclas Füllkrug (5th and 13th minutes) and Marvin Ducksch (8th) quickly gave the North Germans a 3-0 lead, while Gladbach, who were completely taken by surprise by the momentum, the pressing and the aggression of Bremen, only looked after them at the beginning. Anthony Jung could have turned the result even higher shortly afterwards, but failed in front of the goal at the unfortunate Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
After that, the “foals” showed one or the other sign of life. In the 18th minute, Christoph Kramer appeared free in front of the Bremen goal, but volleyed the ball wide of the box. Just a little later, Joe Scally had the chance to score, but was denied by Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka from close range. In the middle, Marcus Thuram waited in vain for the ball.
Bensebaini with a curious own goal
After that, the previously wild game calmed down. Werder became more passive and let Gladbach come, but they couldn’t capitalize on possession. And Bremen remained dangerous. In the 29th minute Ducksch put the ball just wide of the post after a nice cross from the right.
But in the 37th minute it was 4:0. And it symbolized Borussia’s performance in the first half – Ramy Bensebaini scored an own goal. And that was definitely worth seeing. The defender tried to clear the ball with his hoe without any pressure. But that completely backfired. The Algerian had already started the 0:3 with an unsuccessful header return.
Gladbach unhappy in front of goal
At least Gladbach didn’t give up offensively, but acted unhappily with every action. In the 42nd minute, captain Lars Stindl failed in front of the goal at Pavlenka. So Werder went into the break 4-0 – in a game that could have been 6-3 at half-time.
At the start of the second half, Gladbach’s coach Daniel Farke left his team, which had beaten RB Leipzig 3-0 before the international break, unchanged. And the “foals” did it better. In the 48th minute, Thuram appeared free in front of the Werder goal, but put the ball past the post to the left.
The game more or less rippled along as a result. Bremen couldn’t and didn’t want to keep up the pace of the first 45 minutes, but still had chances. Like in the 59th minute, when Mitchell Weiser headed the ball to the post.
Weiser ends Gladbacher intermediate high
The game got going again a little later. After a nice pass from Stindl, Thuram did everything right in front of the goal this time, the Frenchman rounded Pavlenka and pushed the ball into the goal. For Gladbach this was the starting signal for an interim high. They pushed hard for the second goal and kept getting stuck in the Bremen penalty area. Jonas Hofmann hit the post in the 68th minute – and Werder started to swim. But that was only for a short time, because in the middle of Gladbach’s urgent phase, Weiser made it 5-1.
With their first Bundesliga home win in 583 days, Werder have now overtaken Borussia in the table. Both teams have twelve points on their account. Werder is eighth, Gladbach is one place behind.
Bremen in Sinsheim, Gladbach asks for the Rhine derby
At the opening of the 9th matchday of the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen takes on TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Sinsheim (Friday, October 7th, 2022 at 8:30 p.m.). Two days later, Borussia Mönchengladbach plays 1. FC Köln at home (3:30 p.m.).