Werder Bremen won a point against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. There were two red cards in the hectic final phase.
Milos Veljkovic gave the guests, trained by coach Ole Werner, the lead in the 62nd minute, and Tuta equalized (77th). The draw didn’t help Frankfurt much in the table; they now remain sixth with 42 points. Bremen is tenth with 31 points.
Frankfurt has thus missed another great opportunity in the fight for Europe. Barely a week after the disappointing 0-0 draw against Union Berlin, coach Dino Toppmöller’s team missed another big opportunity to increase the cushion on their pursuers in the race for sixth place with their twelfth draw of the season.
To the live ticker: Frankfurt – Bremen arrow right 28th matchday arrow right
“We did very, very well here as a team today. We defended together here, what you have to do in the away game with aggressiveness and community,” said Werder coach Werner on the ARD microphone: “We have taken a step in the right team made as a team.”
“That’s obviously disappointing,” said Frankfurt’s Toppmöller on the ARD microphone, when asked about his team’s many chances: “We just have to be even more dangerous in the final third and just get the ball over the line. We didn’t manage that.”
Zetterer and Trapp in focus
In front of 58,000 spectators, it was a balanced and wild game in the first half, with opportunities going back and forth for both teams. Both teams had a lot of desire to play forward offensively. It was particularly noticeable from the guests that they wanted to bring about a turnaround after four defeats from four Bundesliga games.
Eintracht had to do without key figure Ellyes Shkiri at short notice. In defense, 20-year-old central defender Nnamdi Collins celebrated his professional debut. For Bremen, defender Amos Pieper made his first Bundesliga appearance since the beginning of October after breaking his right ankle. Bitter: Shortly after the break, the defender had to leave the field again due to injury.
The two goalkeepers in particular, Kevin Trapp from Frankfurt and his counterpart Michael Zetterer, had plenty of opportunities to excel early on. Zetterer cleared twice against the strong Omar Marmoush, who tested him with two hard shots. Trapp retained the upper hand in a direct duel with Jens Stage, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, and then strongly parried a close-range header from Pieper.
Bremen scores in Frankfurt’s pressure phase
Things continued like this in the second half, with Eintracht initially having the better opportunities. But Robin Koch, hard pressed by Pieper in the penalty area, and Mario Götze missed their header opportunities.
But then Bremen scored the goal. Marvin Ducksch took a free kick from the right half of the field into the penalty area. At the penalty spot, Stage finished with a right volley. Trapp deflected the ball forward, but Veljkovic was there and pushed the ball into the goal from five meters.
The people of Frankfurt reacted angrily. After a corner from Fares Chaibi, Koch headed the ball from seven meters, but put the ball just over the left corner.
Tuta hits and flies off the pitch
From the 72nd minute things got really tricky for Bremen, as Stage was rightly shown a red card by referee Robert Hartmann after a rude foul against Jean Bahoya.
And it didn’t take long for the equalizer. Tuta headed in from Willian Pacho’s cross. After that, the Frankfurt team pressed vehemently for the winning goal, but Bremen managed the draw with luck and skill – also because Tuta also saw a red card in the final phase after a bad foul against Felix Agu.
Difficult tasks for both clubs
Eintracht has to play at VfB Stuttgart on the next matchday on Saturday (April 13, 2024, 6:30 p.m.), Bremen will play at Bayer Leverkusen a day later (5:30 p.m.).
