Werder Bremen secured an important 3-0 victory at home in their derby against Hannover on the 25th Bundesliga game day, gaining some much-needed room over Hannover in the race for the Europa League spots...
Werder Bremen secured an important 3-0 victory at home in their derby against Hannover on the 25th Bundesliga game day, gaining some much-needed room over Hannover in the race for the Europa League spots...
Werder Bremen secured an important 3-0 victory at home in their derby against Hannover on the 25th Bundesliga game day, gaining some much-needed room over Hannover in the race for the Europa League spots. Claudio Pizarro, Sebastian Prödl and Markus Rosenberg scored the goals for Thomas Schaaf's team.
Two changes
Schaaf made two changes to his starting line-up with Prödl returning from his severe facial injuries to replace Francois Affolter and the suspended captain Clemens Fritz taking the place of Aleksandar Ignjovski.
Wiese strong saves
A sold-out crowd of 42,000 at Weser Stadium saw an exciting game from the beginning with a high tempo, lots of passion and numerous goal scenes. Bremen keeper Tim Wiese showcased his skills after just 14 minutes with a superb save on Didier Ya Konan. Green-Whites defender Sokratis saved a shot at the goalline shortly thereafter as Bremen were lucky to have not conceded an early goal.

Marin out
Schaaf had to sub out Marko Marin after just 18 minutes with a muscle injury as Mehmet Ekici replaced him in the midfield. Hannover keeper Ron-Robert Zieler made a good save on Pizarro's free kick in the 22nd minute. But Wiese was called up to make a great stop on Konstantin Rausch in the 28th minute and Lars Stindl shot wide in the 30th minute.
Pizarro scores
Werder took the lead 1-0 in the 31st minute as Ekici's free kick from the right side found the Peruvian, who held off a Hannover defender and struck home his 16th goal of the season. The Green-Whites appeared to have taken a 2-0 lead in first half stoppage time but Rosenberg's goal was disallowed on a foul away from the ball - giving Bremen a 1-0 lead at the break.
Prödl and Rosenberg successful
Werder came out of the changing room and pushed forward straight away and doubled the advantage 2-0 in the 49th minute as Prödl headed in Ekici's free kick. Prödl was back in the line-up for the first time since the first match of the second half of the season. Bremen did not wait long to finish off Hannover as Rosenberg scored to make it 3-0 in the 56th minute, poking a through ball from Pizarro past Zieler for his first goal since December 10.
Hannover shocked
Hannover were shocked by the two quick goals and struggled to find any rhythm though a goal by Ya Konan in the 79th minute was disallowed for a Hannover player being offside. In the end, the Green-Whites were able to open a four point gap on Hannover for sixth place.
