Matchday 25 of the Bundesliga season came to an end in the capital, with Werder Bremen travelling to the Alte Försterei to face Union Berlin. After a comfortable first half of the season for Die Eisernen, intermittent form since the winter break has seen them slowly slip away from the battle for the European places.
The visitors, now under the stewardship of Daniel Thioune, came into this one off the back of their first win since November. A second victory on the bounce would fire them out of the relegation play-off spot.
Steffen Baumgart made a total of three changes from the side that succumbed to defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach last time out, with Janik Haberer, Andrej Ilić, and Ilyas Ansah returning to the lineup. Thioune made just the one change, with Keke Topp returning in place of Jovan Milošević.
Union enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening quarter of an hour and were awarded a penalty when Niklas Stark pulled down Ilyas Ansah, who was through on goal. Derrick Köhn confidently converted the spot-kick past Mio Backhaus to give the hosts a deserved lead.
The game would flip on its head almost immediately when Andras Schäfer was given his marching orders for a clumsy tackle on Jens Stage in the middle of the park.
That soon gave Bremen renewed impetus and resulted in two quick chances. Stage picked himself up and let fly from the edge of the box, forcing a good save from Frederik Rønnow. Before the attack ended, Stage laid the ball off wonderfully for Yukinari Sugawara. The Japanese international should have at least hit the target, but sent his effort well over the crossbar.
Bremen continued to push for an equaliser, and they soon found it thanks to a perfectly placed strike into the top corner from Olivier Deman. Thioune’s men weren’t happy to settle for going into half-time level and soon took the lead through a bullet header from Stage following a Cameron Puertas corner.
Thioune made two changes at halftime, withdrawing both Keke Topp and Marco Friedl, who were both on bookings, for Leonardo Bittencourt and Julián Malatini.
The visitors kept up the pressure at the beginning of the second half, very nearly extended their lead with both goal scorers combining, with Deman laying off for Stage, who rattled the frame of the goal.
Bremen continued to control possession against the 10-men of Union, and 20 minutes into the second half, they extended their lead. The ball fell kindly to Romano Schmid inside the box after a failed clearance in the Union backline, though Schmid could have pulled the trigger himself; he chose to square it for Marco Grüll, who had the simple task of poking home.
Bremen saw the game out excellently, not giving Union a sniff of a goal. They added the icing on the cake at the end of stoppage time, with 18-year-old Patrice Čović scoring a fourth after a great lay off from Leonardo Bittencourt.
A tough day at the office for Union, who, after Andras Schäfer was sent off just 19 minutes in, were given no chance by a Bremen side that completely dominated proceedings from that point on. A stark contrast to their form over the past three months, with their second win on the spin, they climb up into 13th place.
Frederik Rønnow (4) – Danilho Doekhi (5), Leopold Querfeld (4), Stanley Nsoki (5) – Janik Haberer (5), Andras Schäfer (3), Aljoscha Kemlein (5), Derrick Köhn (6) – Rani Khedira (6) – Andrej Ilić (6), Ilyas Ansah (6)
Others: Woo-yeong Jeong (6), Tim Skarke (-), Christopher Trimmel (-)
Mio Backhaus (6) – Yukinari Sugawara (6), Niklas Stark (6), Marco Friedl (5), Olivier Deman (8) – Senne Lynen (6), Jens Stage (9), Cameron Puertas (7) – Marco Grüll (7), Romano Schmid (6), Keke Topp (5)
Others: Leonardo Bittencourt (6), Julián Malatini (6), Justin Njinmah (-), Isaac Schmidt (-), Patrice Čović (-)
The Danish midfielder ran the show at the Alte Försterei, scoring and assisting in the first half to turn the game on its head. Stage completed the game with a pass accuracy of 87% and created three chances (via Fotmob).
Speaking to the Bundesliga after the game, Stage was keen to stress that his team are under no illusions of the situation they find themselves in: “Important win for the fans and the club as well, for us we know the situation. I think we have tried to keep the focus on the performances. We can be happy.”
