A verocious Ivan Klasnic volley sealed the deal for Werder Bremen on the seventh match day of the season to give the Green-Whites a 2:1 home win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen. After a goalless first 45 minutes, the other half of the K&K strike force, Miroslav Klose, gave Werder the lead (47'), Simon Rolfes cancelled out Kloses goal in the 54th before Klasnic struck.
Werder Bremen, with Daniel Jensen in the starting eleven ahead of captain Frank Baumann, started the tie in front of a 37,265 crowd at the Weser Stadium in offensive and pressurising form. With just six minutes on the clock, a stunning move through Miroslav Klose, Johan Micoud and a drilled cross from Tim Borowski almost lead to the homeside taking the early lead but Daniel Jensen couldn't turn the ball in, allowing it to hop between his legs. This was to be a typical example of how the first half would run for Werder, clever combination football through the midfield being let down by an all too often weak final ball.
More own goal madness, almost!!
The visitors began to free themselves from relentless Werder pressure after some twenty minutes and almost found themselves in front thanks to a near own goal by Naldo. The Brazilian was first to the ball ahead of Berbatov from a Babic cross but was relieved to see his clearance scrape the outside of the far post (28'). Similar was to be seen just one minute later at the other end. Ivan Klasnic headed a Johan Micoud header goalwards. First to react was Athirson whose attemted headed clearance struck the post. As if that wasn't enough danger from defenders in front of their own goal, Jelle van Damme very nearly screwed a Barnetta cross into the angle of Andi Reinkes goal.
To end the first half there was almost a regular goal to shout about. Hans-Jörg Butt punched a Tim Borowski distance drive back into the field of play where it landed at the feet of Klose who passed to Daniel Jensen. The Danish midfielder let a shot go but crashed the ball against Ivan Klasnic' legs and so the half time score would remain 0:0.
Klose capitalises on Ramelow back pass
It was just seconds after the re-start before the collective mass of Green-Whites had reason to celebrate. Bayer captain Carsten Ramelow attemted a back pass to keeper Butt from the edge of his own box. The effort was underweighted and Klose sprang into action to challenge the Leverkusen keeper who slammed the ball against Kloses legs - the ball bounced and bobbled its way over the line, a curious 1:0 for the hosts.
Leverkusen hit back almost immediately. Naldo lost the ball in midfield where Babic played long to Berbatov. The Bulgarian failed to see Voronin in a better position and slammed his shot towards goal only to be denied by the lightening reflexes of Reinke (51'). There was little Reinke could do three minutes later when a Babic corner hopped between Athirson and Owomoyela to land at the feet of Simon Rolfes. The ex-Bremer used the confusion in the Werder box to find a path through the packed box to equalise.
Borowski blasters!!
Despite Werder not being as active as they had in recent games, the game flowed back and forth with Schaafs men pushing for a winner and Rüdi Völlers eleven happy to counter attack. After Tim Borowski tested Butt's abilities with two blasts from distance and Reinke had brilliantly denied Gonzalo Castro - it was a true strike of genius that would decide the tie.
Aaron Hunt, who had been entered into proceedings to replace Daniel Jensen, hit a cross from the left which Ivan Klasnic met with a shoulder high volley which found its way into the top left hand corner of the goal leaving Butt rooted to his line (77'). Leverkusen introduced Jacek Krzynowek and Danko Lazovic to help in the search for another equaliser but Werder stood strong and earned a hard fought home win.
The Green-Whites have set themselves up among the front runners with fives wins in seven games. Bremen now lie in third place with 16 points, just two behind Bayern Munich who lost 2:0 in Hamburg (2nd place) on Saturday.
Johnnie Muldoon