Werder Bremen bounced back from their Champions League loss at Inter Milan for a 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on the seventh game day of the Bundesliga. Hugo Almeida and Marko Marin...
Werder Bremen bounced back from their Champions League loss at Inter Milan for a 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on the seventh game day of the Bundesliga. Hugo Almeida and Marko Marin...
Werder Bremen bounced back from their Champions League loss at Inter Milan for a 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on the seventh game day of the Bundesliga. Hugo Almeida and Marko Marin scored the goals for Thomas Schaaf’s team. But Patrick Helmes and Eren Derdiyok tallied for Leverkusen.
The start of the match was delayed by 15 minutes due to Bremen’s late arrival at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Head coach Thomas Schaaf, who remained without pillars Naldo, Torsten Frings and Claudio Pizarro, made two changes compared to the Inter Milan loss with Petri Pasanen and Aaron Hunt coming in for Tim Borowski and Hugo Almeida. Leverkusen were also missing some big names in Michael Ballack, Renato Augusto and Stefan Kiessling. Both teams were dangerous in the early going, including Marko Marin chesting a cross from Marko Arnautovic, turning and volleying just wide right in the seventh minute.
Bremen defender Philipp Bargfrede saved Manuel Friedrich’s attempt at the line at the quarter hour mark. But Patrick Helmes gave Leverkusen the lead in the 16th minute on a counter attack which started with Tranquillo Barnetta’s pass from the midfield. Wiese made a superb save just before the break against Sidney Sam and Bremen failed to build much pressure on offence the rest of the first half, which ended with Werder trailing 1-0.
Coming out of the break, Thomas Schaaf replaced Bargfrede with Hugo Almeida. And Bremen had a fine chance two minutes after the re-start with Leverkuen keeper Rene Adler barely flicking Marin’s ball from the right side over his crossbar. But the half-time substitution paid off in the 53rd minute as Almeida struck a free kick into the lower right corner to make it 1-1. Bremen jumped ahead in the 62nd minute as Aaron Hunt looped a pass to Marko Marin, who volleyed in for a 2-1 advantage. The Green-Whites could not hold the lead as Eren Derdiyok’s fine individual action was finished with a blast into the far right corner for a 2-2 score. Both Helmes and Sebastian Prödl both had chances in the final minute but Bremen finished with a point on the road for eight points in 13th place.
Bayer Leverkusen: Adler – Schwab, Friedrich, Hyypiä, Kadlec – Reinartz (73’ Rolfes), Balitsch (65’ Derdiyok), Sam, Vidal (57’ L. Bender), Barnetta – Helmes; reserves: Fernandez, Vida, Kaplan, Jörgensen
Werder Bremen: Wiese – Pasanen, Mertesacker, Prödl, Silvestre – Wesley, Bargfrede (46’ Almeida) – Marin, Jensen, Hunt (86’ Husejinovic) – Arnautovic (83’ Ayik); reserves: Mielitz, Balogun
Goals: 1-0 Helmes (16’), 1-1 Almeida (53’), 1-2 Marin (62’), 2-2 Derdiyok (78’)
Yellow cards: Sam, Reinartz (Leverkusen) – Wesley, Jensen, Wiese, Prödl (Werder)
Referee: Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)
BayArena: 30,210 spectators (sold out)
