The Friday evening game of the Bundesliga between Werder Bremen and FC Augsburg (1-0) had some excitement to offer, especially in the final phase. The hosts then raised allegations against the guest from the Fugger city.
Niclas Füllkrug did not criticize Marvin Ducksch. “I think he wanted to score his first goal and break this curse a bit. Then that just happens,” said Bremen’s top scorer after the game at “DAZN”.
But Ducksch’s hand penalty in injury time in Werder Bremen’s 1-0 defeat against FC Augsburg cost the newly promoted Bundesliga team a point. “Everyone can imagine that this is disappointing,” said Werder coach Ole Werner. “The bottom line for all of us.”
Füllkrug has already converted two penalties this season, most recently in the 2-0 away win at VfL Bochum. Ducksch assumed responsibility on Friday evening, although the 28-year-old had not had a shot in the previous five league games.
“It’s always a matter of agreement on the pitch, because you never know who feels how in the situation. We’ve done very well with that in the past,” Werner explained the procedure for penalty kicks and announced that he would do it to hold on.
Werder coach Werner criticizes Augsburger: “The scenes speak for themselves”
Because Ermedin Demirovic scored for the guests after 63 minutes and Ducksch failed because of Augsburg goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz, the second defeat of the season was perfect for the league returnee. The North Germans have also been waiting for a home win for 18 months. “We played badly for 90 minutes,” complained captain Marco Friedl. “Again we don’t get what we want to do at home.”
The penalty kick was the highlight of a turbulent final phase in the Weser Stadium, which was sold out with 41,000 spectators. After the penalty whistle, there were minutes of discussion between Augsburg and referee Martin Petersen. “That was too hot for me. It had nothing to do with football anymore. I didn’t understand it either,” Fullkrug complained towards the Augsburg professionals.
Coach Werner also found the Augsburg reactions after the decision in injury time at least questionable. “The scenes speak for themselves when you look at what happened in the final phase,” said Werner. “Everyone has to know and evaluate it for themselves.”
Gikiewicz is provoked – and provoked back
The fact that FCA goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz first damaged the penalty spot with his shoes and then saved against Marvin Ducksch heated up the atmosphere in the Weser Stadium all the more. That’s not all: the Pole celebrated his parade in front of the Werder curve. Angry supporters from Bremen then jumped over the fence, but were held back by the stewards.
“That’s football. They insult me the whole second half, that’s my answer. They have no respect – you can’t insult my family and me personally, I can’t accept that,” said the goalkeeper afterwards on “DAZN”.
When asked about Füllkrug’s criticism, the goalkeeper countered: “Füllkrug just has to accept the defeat. They have eight points and thought Augsburg would come and they would win 4-0 or what? That’s disrespectful. We were clearly the better team, it was a well deserved win. Now you can babble on and on, I don’t care about the rest.”