Werder Bremen continue their 'Blitz-Start' to the new Bundesliga season. Thomas Schaafs side travelled to Kaiserslautern on the fourth match day of the season and blasted five past the opposition to move into second place in the table behind Bayern Munich who beat Nuremburg 2:1.
Werder had a full squad to choose from as they took control on the Betzenberg from the outset. Tim Borowski launched the first attack on Jürgen Machos' goal after ten minutes but sent his shot, from the edge of the box, wide of the mark.
Five minutes later Torsten Frings tested Macho from distance and the Lautern keeper could only parry but was happy to see Mettomo clear the attempt from Klose from the rebound.
Micoud begins the rout
It took half an hour but eventually the 1,500 travelling fans amidst the 32,851 crowd at the Fritz-Walter-Stadium got their chance to celebrate. Frings crossed from the right but Mettomo cleared, Werder captain Frank Baumann won the loose ball and passed on to Ivan Klasnic who spotted Johan Micoud completely alone and the Frenchman slid the ball home to give the visitors the lead (31'). The home side found it very hard to get at all into the game with frontman Halil Altintop creating their first half chance after 36 minutes. At the other end Miroslav Klose set Tim Borowski free but his run came to end thanks to the reactions of Jürgen Macho (40').
'Boro' wasn't to be frustrated for long as his side turned up the tempo once more before the break and found the net twice more before the whistle. First Klose finished off a move set up with the aid of Ivan Klasnic to make it 2:0. Torsten Frings then became provider for the third time picking out the lively Klasnic who hammer into the bottom left hand corner from 16 meters.
Thomas Schaafs men decided to take the foot off the pedal and relax on their three goal lead after the re-start. The home side looked now more dangerous moving forward and had chances through Sforza (53') and Altintop (62') but were both denied by Andreas Reinkes reflexes. Trainer Michael Henkes side failed to produce much more and even the introduction of new signing Berkant Göktan for Carsten Jancker didn't change the situation.
First Bundesliga goal for Jurica Vranjes
Werder, on the other hand, were on a different level. Tim Borowski sent a long ball to Klose who shook off ex-Werder defender Stefan Blank and slotted home to make it 0:4 for Werder and for Klose his fifth goal in four games (78'). A Lautern player remains top of the goalscorer list, Halil Altintop pulled a goal back for the home team to make the score line less painful for FCK (84'). The Turkish international moving on to his seventh goal of the season.
At the other end Werder were still hungry for goals and so Jurica Vranjes rose high to meet a Borowski free-kick and make the final score 1:5 in Werder favour. For Vranjes there was the extra sweetness of notching up his first Bundesliga goal. Werder set out to prove a point and show they are ready for the visit of FC Barcelona to the Weser Stadium on Wednesday.