Werder Bremen defended their position at the top of the Bundesliga table on Wednesday night with a 2:0 (1:0) win in Leverkusen against Bayer 04. Miroslav Klose gave the Green-Whites the lead with a first-half header and Hugo Almeida sealed the points for the visitors in the 78th minute.
Trainer Thomas Schaaf was forced into making one injury induced change to the side which beat Hanover 96 on Sunday afternoon. In place of Tim Wiese, who picked up a muscular injury, Andreas Reinke took up his place between the posts in the Bundesliga for the first time since the serious head injury he picked up playing against Stuttgart last season. The 38 year old keeper was soon called into action at the BayArena but the ‘Oldie’ proved he still possesses lightening reflexes. With seven minutes gone the veteran keeper had to react quickly to get a foot out and turn away a shot which was deflected goal wards by Naldo’s heel after a speedy Bayer attack.
On the rebound, the Green-Whites displayed their attacking danger. Diego picked up the ball in midfield and, spotting Aaron Hunt’s run, perfectly chipped the ball into the young strikers path. The 20 year old caught the ball on the volley but couldn’t keep his left footed effort goal bound. During the following period the visitors controlled the game and proved to be both physically more present as well as quicker off the mark.
Stunning combination: Frings – Boro – Klose – Goal!!!
The result of Werder’s dominance after a quarter hour – the lead. Torsten Frings picked up the ball in a central position and spotted Tim Borowski free on the right. ‘Boro’ hammered the ball back across the box where Miroslav Klose stooped low to head back against the movement of Jörg Butt to make it 1:0 for the visitors.
Bayer needed time to recover from the shock of falling behind and almost fell further behind as Klose rose to head a Frings corner delivery goal wards. The German internationals headed effort grazed the crossbar (18’). With 20 minutes played, Skibbe’s eleven raised their game and created some chances of their own, in particular down the right through Paul Freier.
Leverkusen failed to draw level despite opportunities to do so through Paul Freier (27’, 31’) and Sergej Barbarez (29’) but the first half, despite maintaining the lead, had a bitter end for Werder as Torsten Frings picked up a yellow card for descent after being called off-side. The card was Frings’ fifth which means he will be suspended and can play no part in Werder Bremen’s top of the table clash with Schalke 04 at the weekend.
Bayer push – Bremen stand strong
After the break, and with both sides having made changes (Almeida for hunt, Kießling for Barnetta), Bayer upped the tempo. The Bremen defence, built around Naldo and Per Mertesacker, was sturdy and when penetrated had the security of knowing that Andi Reinke was right behind them – the reason that chances for Rolfes (53’), Schneider (55’), Barbarez (59’) and Kießling (62’) amounted to nothing. Luck was definitely not on Leverkusen’s side. Andrej Voronin hammered in a shot which struck the inside of the post, ricocheted back across the face of the goal and away for a goal kick.
A long clearance from Reinke almost set up Hugo Almeida to double Werder’s lead but it took until the 70th minute for the visitors to pull free. Decisive was the dismissal of Gonzalo for a second bookable offence. The full back had picked up a yellow for descent and was shown his second yellow for a foul in Tim Borowski after 73 minutes.
It was basically down to some excellent work by Naldo that Werder eventually put the game beyond their hosts. The lanky Brazilian burst through dynamically before laying off to Almeida who looked up to check the keeper’s position before drilling home to make it 2:0 (78’). The three points never looked in danger for Werder despite another shot against the right post by Voronin late on. It was the sixth win on the trot for the Green-Whites, who after a perfect re-start can retain their title aspirations.