“Final character”: Werder wants to leave relegation zone

Werder Bremen had not been this close to its destination for months.

Since the beginning of February, the four-time German champion has been on a relegation zone in the Bundesliga. Just two weeks ago, after the 1-4 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the first game after the Corona break, many fans thought: that was it.

But on Wednesday (8.30 p.m. / Sky) the Bremen team could improve on the relegation place with a win in the catch-up game against Eintracht Frankfurt. Should the victory be five goals behind, Werder would even be back in table 15.

“The game has a final character, but there are five more finals afterwards,” said coach Florian Kohfeldt at a virtual press conference. “Tomorrow nothing will happen that can finally save us. We are still behind. That is why we are under pressure. ”

His Frankfurt colleague Adi Htter sounded very similar when it came to this urgency. “It is an important and significant game for both teams, in which the motto is: no losing,” said the Austrian. For Eintracht, a door has opened thanks to the recent 2-1 victory in Wolfsburg and the end of a week-long series of defeats. Should she win in Bremen, she would have an almost unattainable lead of eight points over the relegation place five games before the end. Should she lose, however, the tremors would start again in Frankfurt.

In view of this explosive sporting spirit, both clubs have almost forgotten the turbulent history of the game. Actually, it should take place on March 1st, and therefore before the break of this season. But a Frankfurt Europa League game in Salzburg had to be postponed by one day, which is why the German Football League also canceled the Bundesliga game in Bremen. Werder was upset about it, and Werder only lost a DFB Cup game against Eintracht and his important defender mer Toprak for several months only three days later. The Frankfurt Filip Kostic had badly fouled him.

It goes well with the significantly improved mood in Bremen that Toprak is expected to be back in training this week. “The injury was tragic and totally stupid for us. But Filip Kostic sincerely apologized right after the game. There is no bad blood on our part, ”said Kohfeldt. “I also have a very good relationship with Adi Htter.”

Both coaches may have drawn the consequences of their sports abuses just in time. They both want their teams to play forward. But the necessary “bristle” (“Frankfurter Rundschau”) was only lost to Werder this season and later the concord.

That is exactly what has changed – especially in Bremen. “Werder is now defending better and more closed. You are stable again. It is certainly not the same team as three to four weeks ago, ”said Adi Htter. His colleague Kohfeldt sees this very similarly after the two 1-0 wins against Schalke 04 and SC Freiburg and the meanwhile 0-0 against Borussia Mnchengladbach: “The effect on the team is: you believe that you can play to zero . You believe that you can digest neck hits and win a Bundesliga game, ”he said. Exactly this belief should not be destroyed again on Wednesday.

The expected lineups:

Werder Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic, Moisander, Friedl – Vogt – M. Eggestein, Klaassen – Bittencourt, Rashica – Sargent

Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Abraham, Hasebe, Hinteregger – Chandler, Rode, Sow, Kostic – Kamada – Dost, Silva

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• Bayer Leverkusen

• Borussia Mnchengladbach

• Eintracht Frankfurt

• Sc freiburg

• Schalke 04

• Werder Bremen

• mer Toprak

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