A last-minute goal from Ansgar Knauff saves Eintracht Frankfurt: The recently dissatisfied Hessians managed to take a point with great difficulty in a spectacle in Bremen. The Knauff scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time to make the final score 3:3 (1:1). Both the SGE and Werder are still waiting for a sense of success in 2026, and unrest has recently increased at both clubs.
The SGE initially took the lead twice. The new storm hope Arnaud Kalimuendo caught the Werder defense in a deep sleep after 50 seconds and cleverly scored with the tip of his foot to take the early lead. It was the first goal of the winter loan from Nottingham Forest in the Eintracht jersey. In the second half, Nnamdi Collins (56th) gave the guests the lead for the second time after Bremen had hit back through Justin Njinmah (29th). Jens Stage’s equalizer (78th) was followed by Jovan Milosevic’s big moment (80th) before Eintracht had another answer.
Werder rewarded themselves for their fight with the point and brushed aside the unrest of the past few days with reports of a bad mood in the dressing room. Champions League participants Frankfurt, led by coach Dino Toppmöller, continue to lack the playful naturalness that those responsible expect. 39 goals conceded means the worst value in the league.
Both Bremen and Eintracht entered the game tensely after their recent negative experiences. The coaches reacted very differently: While Steffen trusted his starting eleven from the 3-0 defeat in Dortmund, Toppmöller changed to four positions after the 3-2 defeat in Stuttgart. The game then needed no start-up time.
Events come to a head
Before the early goal, Stage gave his opponent Ritsu Doan too much space in the half-space, then Yukinari Sugawara didn’t get into the duel with Nathaniel Brown properly and Kalimuendo finally reacted faster than Amos Pieper. Kalimuendo was signed at the beginning of January, and Eintracht also secured a purchase option worth around 27 million euros.
Werder reacted angrily to the cold shower and initially tried to crack the guests over the wings. The first real chance resulted from a counterattack with a through pass from Stage to the quick Njinmah, who shot past the goal (20th). Nine minutes later, the 25-year-old did better – the equalizer was deserved at that point.
Even after the break, the game remained competitive, and Eintracht then took advantage of Bremen’s problems in building up the game to take the lead again. Werder then pushed for an equalizer and also had an excellent opportunity through Njinmah (69′). After that, events came to a head.
