FC Augsburg has successfully stopped its negative trend in the Bundesliga and thus extended Werder Bremen’s home run. After three defeats in a row, Ermedin Demirovic made it 1-0 at Werder Bremen in the 63rd minute. This should not only reduce relegation worries for the time being, but also the pressure on FCA coach Enrico Maassen. The celebrations at Augsburg were all the greater because goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz saved a hand penalty from Marvin Ducksch in the fifth minute of added time. Then it got turbulent, some Werder fans even stormed behind the goal of the Polish goalkeeper for a short time. Werder are therefore still waiting for their first Bundesliga home win in around 18 months and missed out on a place in the European Cup.
As a relegation candidate, the Augsburgers did not appear in front of 41,000 spectators in the Weser Stadium for a long time. Maassen’s team attacked the hosts high and early, provoking mistakes in Werder’s defence. After eight minutes, Augsburg already had three chances. The best of them was awarded by Florian Niederlechner, who rounded Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka – but then missed the ball. The Czech didn’t have to endure more dangerous situations because he was substituted after half an hour due to a thigh problem. This is how Michael Zetterer made his Bundesliga debut.
As is so often the case this season, Bremen seemed anything but stable. Due to mistakes in the construction, Augsburg was repeatedly invited to counter-attacks, and the chain of three was not permanently safe either. Nevertheless, Werder stabilized and almost took the lead. Niclas Füllkrug’s headed goal in the 31st minute was disallowed after viewing the video images: Anthony Jung had previously blocked two opponents from offside in the penalty area.
Hardly any chances, then a brilliant moment
It didn’t develop into a high-class, but entertaining game. It had rained heavily before kick-off, which regularly provoked technical errors on both sides. Sometimes Werder were negligent, sometimes the ball jumped too far away for an Augsburg player – which repeatedly resulted in tricky situations. However, both teams hardly created any clear chances.
Until the Augsburgers had a brilliant moment. Werder had already cleared an FCA corner and advanced when Carlos Gruezo played a superb pass behind the Bremen defence. Mergim Berisha only had to lay across to Demirovic in the centre, the striker sank from close range. A little later, Berisha almost made it 2-0, but his lob hit the bar. It wasn’t just getting heated up in the stands. Werder pushed for the equalizer – and was almost rewarded. Augsburg’s farmer grabbed the ball in the penalty area, but Ducksch missed the penalty.
