Werder Bremen twice came back from a deficit at Wolfsburg on their way to winning 4-2 on the 31st game day and gaining three crucial points in the fight for the international...
Werder Bremen twice came back from a deficit at Wolfsburg on their way to winning 4-2 on the 31st game day and gaining three crucial points in the fight for the international...
Werder Bremen twice came back from a deficit at Wolfsburg on their way to winning 4-2 on the 31st game day and gaining three crucial points in the fight for the international spots. Torsten Frings scored two goals for Thomas Schaaf’s team while Claudio Pizarro and Hugo Almeida each scored as well. Edin Dzeko and Grafite both scored for Wolfsburg.
The 30,000 spectators at the Volkswagen Arena saw an offensive minded game from the beginning from both teams. Wolfsburg jumped ahead after 18 minutes with Zvjezdan Misimovic feeding a nice pass to Edin Dzeko, who beat Bremen keeper Tim Wiese to make it 1-0. Werder held their own and equalised on a penalty as Torsten Frings had the first of many fine plays by converting from the spot after Marko Marin was fouled in the area – and it was 1-1 after 38 minutes. Werder could not keep Wolfsburg from taking the lead two minutes later with Misimovic again setting up a goal, this time by Grafite. And Bremen trailed 2-1 at the break.
The Werder-Wolfsburg showdown remained exciting in the second half. Werder came out very motivated and equalised a second time in the 49th minute with Claudio Pizarro hitting home Clemens Fritz’s cross for a 2-2 game. Thomas Schaaf’s team were clearly the better team now and applied enormous pressure. And some fine technical work by Werder led to the lead in the 62nd minute with Pizarro passing onto Frings, who worked his way past Andrea Barzagli and scored his second goal. Hugo Almeida entered the game for Marko Marin after 57 minutes and scored in the 74th minute to decide the game, scoring Mesut Özil’s fine assist to make it 4-2 – which was also the final score. The victory combined with Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-1 loss in Stuttgart allowed Werder to move past Leverkusen into third place with a better goal difference for the Champions League qualification spot.
Wolfsburg: Benaglio – Johnson (85’ Dejagah), Riether, Barzagli, Schäfer – Josue, Hasebe (70’ Martins), Gentner, Misimovic – Grafite, Dzeko
Werder Bremen: Wiese – Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen – Frings, Bargfrede (84’ Jensen) – Marin (58’ Almeida), Özil, Hunt (72’ Borowski)– Pizarro; reserves: Wiedwald – Boenisch, Prödl, Rosenberg
Goals: 1-0 (18’) Dzeko, 1-1 (38’ pen.) Frings, 2-1 (40’) Grafite, 2-2 (49’) Pizarro, 2-3 (62’) Frings, 2-4 (75’) Almeida
Yellow cards: Misimovic (Wolfsburg) – Frings, Borowski, Almeida (all Werder)
Referee: Dr. Jochen Drees (Münster-Sarmsheim)
Volkswagen Arena: 27,000 spectators
