With a clear home win against 1. FC Köln and with support from Union Berlin, Werder Bremen saved themselves on relegation place 16 on the last day of the Bundesliga.
By Frank van der Velden
The “miracle of the Weser” is a fixed term in Bremen. He describes SV Werder’s ability to free himself from seemingly hopeless situations. So far, this was only true for the European Cup, where the green-whites came home after spectacular crashes in the first leg with spectacular wins at home.
Now “Miracles from the Weser” have a new dimension. After a 6-1 win against 1. FC Köln on the last Bundesliga matchday on Saturday (June 27th, 2020) Werder saved himself to relegation place 16 and thus averted the first relegation after 1980 for the time being.
Rifle aid from Berlin
The team was coached by coach Florian Kohfeldt from Berlin, where 1. FC Union defeated Bremen rivals Düsseldorf 3-0 and sent the West Germans into the second division. Bremen had started their relegation final with two points and four goals behind Fortuna. The statistics show how strange the victory with half a dozen hits is. In the previous 16 home games of the season, Werder had just managed nine goals.
The “Wonder of the Weser” took shape in the 22nd minute. After a meager and bumpy start, Yuya Osako was suddenly free in front of Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn after a pass from Maximilian Eggestein and scored well for the 1-0. Just five minutes later Milot Rashica increased to 2: 0 after a nice individual performance and with the kind help of Horn, and again only two minutes later Marco Friedl flanked exactly from the left into the interface to Niclas Füllkrug, who scored 3: 0. When Union Berlin took the lead against Düsseldorf in between, the Bremen switches were on relegation.
Offensive lineup rewarded
In terms of line-up, Bremen coach Kohfeldt had done everything for the win. For the first time since his serious knee injury, Füllkrug ran from the start and formed the attacking trio together with Rashica and Osako. On the outside, the two defenders Friedl and Theodor Gebre Selassie intervened again and again in the attacking game.
After the break, the people of Cologne invested more and, above all, intensified their pressing. The effort could not be denied to the FC, but the team of coach Markus Gisdol was ineffective for over 90 minutes. The Bremen team had the first chance again. When Osako shot, Ellyes Skhiri barely had his foot in the middle.
Then it happened in quick succession. In the 55th minute Sebastiaan Bornauw directed a shot from Rashica to the post, Davy Klaassen dusted off. With a 4-0 win, Bremer could even have coped with the equalization in Berlin. Instead, Osako went one better in the 58th minute and, after a nice pass from Gebre Selassie, made it 5-0 – and Berlin increased to 2-0 against Düsseldorf.
Cologne in the end desolate
While coach Kohfeldt did not show the joy on the outside and continued to cheer on his team from the sidelines, things went high in the grandstand, where supervisory board chairman Marco Bode was also seated.
The Cologne surrendered in this phase of the game. Bremen brought everything on the field that the team had missed in so many games before. Dominick Drexler’s goal in the 62nd minute did not turn the game around either. There was no question of a goal being played out anyway. Rashica had given Drexler the chance with a bad pass. In six minutes later, substitute Josh Sargent scored after Rashica had previously done well. He also hit the post in the 81st minute. Niklas Moisander also had a clear chance in the 84th minute, but put the ball just over the goal from ten meters.
Relegation against Heidenheim or Hamburger SV
The Bremen team must now complete the “miracle of the Weser” in the relegation. There are two games on Thursday (02.07.2020) and on Sunday against 1. FC Heidenheim or Hamburger SV. 1. FC Köln meanwhile has to put up with allegations from their Rhenish neighbor Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Those: sportschau.de
