After the 0-5 fiasco against FC Bayern, VfB Stuttgart returns with a confident 4-0 win in Bremen – and is back on top.
Grinning broadly, Jamie Leweling high-fived his teammates, the VfB Stuttgart shooter enjoyed the well-deserved away win in Bremen to the fullest – and wanted to know for sure after his decisive long-range shot. “How far was that? How many meters?” asked the match winner after the Swabians’ 4-0 (2-0) win on “DAZN”.
Leweling scored from 32 meters to make it 2-0, he also prepared two more goals and was honored as “Man of the Match”. “A good day,” he dryly commented on his strong performance. Not least thanks to Leweling, the Swabian people were able to overcome their frustration in the cool north. After three winless games in a row, the cup winners returned to the top group of the Bundesliga and shot themselves back into the race for the Champions League places a week after the 5-0 defeat against champions Bayern Munich.
After a shaky start, Bilal El Khannouss put VfB in the lead (40th), Jamie Leweling followed up with his powerful shot from distance before the break (44th). In the second half, top striker Deniz Undav increased the score (79′) and substitute Chris Führich (90’+7). Werder’s Karim Coulibaly previously saw a yellow-red card (58th). A week after the defeat in the northern derby against Hamburger SV (2:3), Bremen slipped deeper into their results crisis – Werder has been waiting for a win in the league for four games and has to orientate itself downwards.
Bremen’s Justin Njinmah opened an atmospheric Advent evening in the Weserstadion with his first chance, but his low shot went just past the left (3rd). A little later it was the winger who caused danger again and this time found his match in VfB keeper Alexander Nübel (9th). Nevertheless: the green and white hosts owned the initial phase. After the avoidable bankruptcy at HSV, Bremen clearly tried to quickly initiate the “turnaround” called for by coach Horst Steffen.
VfB also had a lot of trouble in the league recently. The Swabians had already successfully dealt with the 0:5 against FCB in the 4:1 against Tel Aviv in the Europa League, but at the beginning there wasn’t much going on offensively. Only Undav, the Stuttgart life insurance company of the past few weeks, caused danger. However, his goal was denied due to offside (23′).
Backhaus doesn’t look good at Leweling-Tor
The 113th Bundesliga duel between the two traditional clubs remained a competitive one. When there was already a strong smell of a draw on the Weser, the slight favorite struck twice. First El Khannouss made it 1-0 with his skilful header for VfB, who had fallen behind 1-0 in each of the last six league games (!).
Then Leweling from the second row took heart – Bremen keeper Mio Backhaus didn’t look good with his flutter ball from almost 30 meters.
Because of this deep sleep shortly before the break, Werder was now in danger of heading into an uncomfortable Christmas season. After the break, Steffen’s team struggled to get something going in the last home game of the year, but Coulibaly’s sending off after a foul made things even more complicated. The central defender was cautioned for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first half. With the advantage, the Stuttgart Backhaus team finally warmed up the Werder goal; He was powerless when Undav’s dry finish into the top left corner.