Werder Bremen suffered a 1-0 defeat in their away match against Hertha Berlin on the 24th game day of the Bundesliga in a disappointing reunion with former Green-Whites coach...
Werder Bremen suffered a 1-0 defeat in their away match against Hertha Berlin on the 24th game day of the Bundesliga in a disappointing reunion with former Green-Whites coach...
Werder Bremen suffered a 1-0 defeat in their away match against Hertha Berlin on the 24th game day of the Bundesliga in a disappointing reunion with former Green-Whites coach and current Berlin boss Otto Rehhagel. Bremen failed to pick up important points in the first for the international spots as Nikita Rukavytsya scored the game-winner.
Ignjovski for Fritz
Schaaf made just one change to his line-up with Aleksandar Ignjovski replacing the yellow card-suspended captain Clemens Fritz. In front of about 40,000 spectators at Olympic Stadium, Hertha had the first opportunity of the game in the 13th minute as Adrian Ramos's header was held superbly by Werder keeper Tim Wiese. The Green-Whites' first chance came five minutes later with captain Claudio Pizarro's shot going wide left. Both teams struggled to create many opportunities the rest of the first half though Marko Marin's shot was stopped by Berlin keeper Thomas Kraft in the 42nd minute and the teams went into the changing room deadlocked at 0-0.

Berlin grab lead
The Green-Whites came back onto the pitch unchanged and nearly fell behind in the 51st minute as Tunay Torun shot wide and then Kraft stopped Pizarro in the 57th minute. Berlin took the lead 1-0 in the 62nd minute as Felix Bastians passed to Rukavytsya, whose left volley bounced off the ground and over Wiese.
Arnautovic, Ekici brought on
Schaaf reacted immediately and brought on Marko Arnautovic for Markus Rosenberg in the 63rd minute. Pizarro nearly equalised two minutes later but could not beat Kraft one-on-one. And then Mehmet Ekici came on for Tom Trybull in the 70th minute. But it was Berlin who nearly scored thereafter but Rukavytsya's shot went just inches wide left in the 74th minute. Schaaf tried one more substitution with Niclas Füllkrug coming in for Junuzovic in the 79th minute, but the Green-Whites could not find the goal and have collected just one victory in 2012 for 36 points.
