Werder Bremen fought for a point against RB Leipzig at the start of the 16th matchday in the Bundesliga – and completely deserved it.
In the 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening (December 19th, 2023), Lois Openda (47th) gave coach Marco Rose’s team the lead, Justin Njinmah (75th) equalized for Bremen.
The Saxons missed their fourth league success in a row and are now in third place in the table with 33 points. Bremen, coach Ole Werner’s team, has now been without defeat for three games, climbed to 13th place with 16 points and can look forward to the relegation battle in the new year with confidence.
Emil Forsberg led the Saxons onto the field as captain in his last game for RB Leipzig. The Swede will change in the winter new York. “It would have been perfect if we had won today. Of course I really wanted to win my last game today”said Forsberg in the Sportschau interview: “I’ll pass the flag on to the boys now.” Bremen’s Marco Friedl spoke about one on the ARD microphone “mature performance” and one “A well-deserved point. With a little more luck we’ll win the game today too.”
Sports show, December 19, 2023 8:30 p.m
Sports show, December 19, 2023 8:32 p.m
Hit the post after 45 seconds
The first chance in Bremen’s constant rain belonged to the guests, and only 45 seconds had been played. After a free kick from David Raum from the half field, Werder couldn’t clear it far enough and Castello Lukeba thundered the ball onto the post. Bremen’s goalkeeper Michael Zetterer would have had no chance.
As a result, the Leipzig team remained dominant, running high as usual and pressing aggressively. However, the next chance didn’t come until the 20th minute – and it came about by chance. After a mistake by Anthony Jung, Xavi Simons suddenly appeared free in front of Zetterer, but was unable to get the ball past the goalkeeper. A little later, Xavi Zetterer tested with a shot from 16 meters after a nice combination. A little later the goalkeeper was there against Yussuf Poulsen.
Bremen Sturm und Drang period
It took until the 32nd minute for Bremen’s first chance, but it was a tough one. After a cross from Mitchell Weiser, Rafael Borré headed straight towards the corner of the Leipzig goal, where Lukeba had to clear on the line for his goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
It was the start of a period of Sturm und Drang in Bremen, which RB survived with great difficulty. First Borré failed again at Blaswich, then a pass from Justin Njinmah to the free-standing Marvin Ducksch was too imprecise and then Jens Stage put the ball over the box completely free in front of the goal and wasted a huge chance.
Poulsen’s goal doesn’t count
After that, Bremen were lucky. First Lois Openda narrowly missed the goal with a shot from 20 meters, then suddenly the ball fidgeted in the Werder net. But Poulsen was slightly offside when he headed in after Amadou Haidara hit the post. Referee Tobias Reichel conceded the supposed lead. So it went into the break 0-0 – in keeping with the performance.
Openda shocks Werder after the break
At the beginning of the second round there was a cold shower for Bremen. Forsberg played a long ball to Openda, who won the duel against Christian Groß and then converted in the third attempt against the brave Zetterer.
Werder fought back. First Blaswich defused a sharp cross from Borré with his foot, then Ducksch hit the crossbar with a beautiful shot. Leipzig retreated a little too far in this phase of the game.
Afterwards the game flattened out and became more rough. The next big chance came in the 68th minute and it almost made it 2-0. But Openda failed after a pass from Xavi in front of goalkeeper Zetterer.
Deserved equalizer by Njinmah
Instead, Bremen scored. The ball came to Njinmah via Jung, Ducksch and Stage – and he shot it into the bottom left corner from around 20 meters. In the final minutes both teams played for a win, but in the end it remained a fair 1-1. The point was deserved for Bremen, as Werder rewarded themselves for their courage and offensive focus. Leipzig has to accept the accusation of not having followed up after taking the lead.
Werder will play VfL Bochum on the 17th matchday of the new year on Sunday (January 14, 2024), while Leipzig will face Eintracht Frankfurt the day before.