Union Berlin was able to celebrate again: In the third game in the Weser Stadium, the guests from Berlin prevailed against hosts Werder Bremen, won the promoted team 2-1 (1-1) on Wednesday evening and are now second in the table. “It feels wonderful,” commented Berlin’s Rani Khedira.
In front of 41,500 spectators, Amos Pieper put Werder ahead four days after the 7-1 debacle at 1. FC Köln (14th minute). Janik Haberer (18th) and Kevin Behrens (46th) turned the game around for the Berliners, who with 33 points made the best half series in their first division history perfect. For Werder, on the other hand, it was the fourth defeat in a row – and on Saturday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) VfL Wolfsburg, the team of the hour, comes to Bremen.
“It would have been better,” commented Bremen’s Leonardo Bittencourt. “Of course, the timing of the 1:2 was very bad.” Bremen is promoted and has 21 points, in the second half of the season we will take them with us”. Khedira said: “We were the more active team in the first half. The second half was nothing to watch. But we fought.”
Union had won the previous guest appearances in the Weserstadion 2-0. Otherwise, the Köpenickers have long outstripped the former German champion von der Weser, as a look at the current transfer activities of both clubs shows. While Werder does not want to bring any more reinforcements this winter due to empty coffers, the Berliners signed Croatian international Josip Juranovic from Scottish champions Celtic Glasgow for an estimated eight million euros. In Bremen he made his debut in the Bundesliga for the Unioner, made a good impression and prepared the 2-1.
Jiri Pavlenka unsure
Werder made up for the differences in the quality of the squad at least with great commitment. After the collective dropout in Cologne, the green-whites showed the reaction demanded by Werner, even if the hosts still made many shortcomings. So did Pieper, who slipped into the starting lineup for World Cup participant Milos Veljkovic. Shortly after the defender had given Werder the lead with a header after assisting Marvin Ducksch, he made a serious mistake at the back which Haberer used to equalise.
Shortly before the break, Bremen were lucky that another mistake didn’t lead to a deficit. Jiri Pavlenka, who seemed uncertain after the seven goals conceded by Cologne, shot Kevin Behrens after a back pass, shortly afterwards Sheraldo Becker circled the ball wonderfully to put the guests 2:1 in the goal. However, the ball had jumped into Behrens’ hand beforehand, so the goal did not count after the intervention of the video referee.
Bremen still fell behind – a few seconds after half-time. At a Berlin corner, the Werder defense was in a deep sleep. Born in Bremen, Behrens took advantage of this and provided the deserved leadership for Union Berlin. Werder couldn’t think of much after that. Just because Union failed to add the third goal, the game remained exciting until the end. In the end, however, the points went back to the capital.
