Naldo's dismissal: "Merte" says sorry!

Per Mertesacker kept the Werder defence together after Naldo's red card.
First Team
Monday, 02.03.2009 / 13:43

It may not have been a victory but it was a great fight which every Werder fan at Weser Stadion honoured. The Green-White supporters celebrated their team for gaining a point against Bayern Munich despite playing the final 75 minutes a man down...

It may not have been a victory but it was a great fight which every Werder fan at Weser Stadion honoured. The Green-White supporters celebrated their team for gaining a point against Bayern Munich despite playing the final 75 minutes a man down. "Victories have a different feeling but because of how much we ran today maybe we deserved a bit more," said a tired Per Mertesacker. After his mistake in the 15th minute, the German international was especially emotional about the game.

 

He had to watch as his teammate Naldo helped make up for his mistake and was shown the red card. That left the defensive boss "Merte" especially busy against the attacking Bayern. The defender spoke of one of the most intensive games of the season. "After the red card, we had to watch out and not allow a goal but still stay dangerous in the attack. And we did a good job with that."

 

But the key was the Werder defensive specialists doing the dirty work for their teammates. "We had to pull back even though we are pretty accustomed to attacking early. We had to really work hard on bringing back our midfield and attack and get them in position. That didn't always work as Bayern did get a couple good chances," said Mertesacker. "But altogether we withstood them pretty well, especially in front of our goal. We often had one-on-one situations but it didn't work any other way."

 

Per Mertesacker was aggravated that he brought about the situation which led to the red card. But he quickly put it behind him. "You can't really explain it. I have never slipped in this stadium. I wear the longest studs allowed and have excellent shoes. That wasn't the problem. The soapy grounds must have had something to do with it and then it was an unfortunate movement." Mertesacker then had to watch as Naldo was sent from the pitch. "The card can be shown, but not a lot of referees would do so. I am so sorry for him. We had finally developed some harmony to our game. Hopefully he still likes me at all."

Probably...

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