The winning streak is broken. SV Werder Bremen didn’t lose against FC Ingolstadt either, but had to settle for a 1-1 (0-0) draw against the bottom of the table. Despite clear field advantages, Bremen did not manage to make their superiority visible on the scoreboard. Because the guests were the expected unpleasant opponents and even a goal from Niclas Füllkrug was not enough in the end. This also ended Ole Werner’s hunt for Otto Rehhagel’s age-old record, who had achieved eight wins in a row after making his debut in 1981. But that hadn’t really mattered to him before.
The most important news before kick-off: Marco Friedl recovered from his thigh problems in time to be in the starting XI. Since, as expected, Milos Veljkovic also returned, Lars Lukas Mai went back to the bench for the time being. There was also Felix Agu, who was not immediately ordered back to the right side by Ole Werner after his injury break of several weeks – instead Mitchell Weiser played there again. In midfield, Nicolai Rapp was chosen to represent Leonardo Bittencourt, who was suspended.
What hadn’t Werder’s head coach warned about during the week, talking almost like a prayer wheel of a “key game”. Just before it started, he emphasized again: “We will certainly be challenged mentally.” And that’s how it happened. Very quickly even. The game was less than 40 seconds old when the nerves of the Werder fans were tested for the first time. A return from Anthony Jung almost starved, but goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka just managed to slide the ball out of the danger zone in front of Ingolstadt’s Florian Pick.
Werder is slow to get going against Ingolstadt
As a result, Bremen also found it difficult to get into the encounter. Because Ingolstadt was compact as expected and switched quickly, Werder also lacked the pace in the actions at the beginning and the quality of the pass wasn’t always the best.
After a quarter of an hour, the home team slowly started to roll. First a shot by Romano Schmid was blocked, at the following corner FCI keeper Dejan Stevanovic and Ömer Toprak met, the latter didn’t put the ball in the goal and also landed rough on the post. But the defense chief was able to continue playing (21st). It wasn’t really top-class after that either, but Werder stayed active, although a Rapp header wasn’t dangerous enough (33′).
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Ingolstadt’s Filip Bilbija does not get the ball from an acute angle on the Werder goal.
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Meanwhile, the guests continued to pinprick. When Romano Schmid misplayed a counterattack, it quickly went in the opposite direction, where Filip Bilbija penetrated into the six-yard box, but then shot it from a tight angle into the void (36′). Shortly thereafter, a sharp cross – ultimately without consequences – rushed through the Bremen penalty area. Even without a real shot on goal, FCI proved that they hadn’t just come to barricade themselves deep in their own half.
Bad luck for Werder: filling jug fails on the crossbar
Niclas Füllkrug almost took advantage of this, but only hit the crossbar with a header after a cross from Christian Groß (41′). In return, Bilbija appeared in front of Pavlenka again, but shot wide of the goal on the right. Immediately before the half-time whistle, Pick also aimed too imprecisely (45+1). The score remained 0-0 – and Werder went into the dressing room without a lead for the seventh time in a row.
The second round should and had to fix it as so often. And it only lasted five minutes when Rapp almost succeeded. After a low Weiser cross, he tried it elegantly with the heel, but the ball was deflected over the goal at the last moment. Shortly afterwards it was Weiser’s turn, but he aimed right at the goalkeeper (54′). Werder should have been in the lead after 67 minutes. Following an extended corner, Toprak threw the ball over the box with his weaker left foot from five yards. Three minutes later, Jung made a move from a good position.
1: 1 is enough for Werder to temporarily lead the table
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Werder striker Niclas Füllkrug celebrates his goal to make it 1-0 with a pacifier in his mouth.
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The clock was ticking – and after 70 minutes the question could be asked even more intensively than before whether Werder’s impressive winning streak should actually break against Bayern, who was bottom of the table. But Werder continued to work tirelessly – and was rewarded. Shortly after Marvin Ducksch shot the head of defender Nico Antonitsch while he was still free, Füllkrug headed the ball into the net after a Jung cross (75′).
And Werder wanted more. First, a shot by Groß was just parried, and Jung’s second attempt was deflected by Stevanovic to a corner (83′). Almost 120 seconds later there was the cold shower. Toprak misjudged a long ball from Ingolstadt, Bilbija was there and lobbed the ball over Pavlenka to make it 1-1 (85′). The people of Bremen were still looking for a suitable answer – but couldn’t find it. After all, the temporary lead in the table still existed after winning this one point.
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