With a European push slipping away for both sides, Gladbach were at least looking to break a three-match run without finding the net, and they were in total control in the opening stages. The early chances fell their way too, and Nico Elvedi stretched to poke Jonas Hofmann’s free-kick delivery over the bar at the back post.
The opportunities were coming thick and fast for the home side, and they would have taken the lead through Marcus Thuram if it wasn’t for a smart reflex save from Michael Zetterer, deputising for the absent Jiří Pavlenka in the Bremen goal. Die Werderaner weathered the storm, and turned the tide on their opponents with a flurry of chances as the half drew to a close. First, Niclas Füllkrug’s pleas for a penalty were waved away, before Jens Stage was unable to contort himself to turn in Mitchell Weiser’s pass across the face of goal. Thuram had one last chance to ensure the game didn’t reach the break scoreless, but he couldn’t lob his shot over Zetterer and on target.
Thuram had his fair share of attempts in the opening period, and he finally opened the scoring just after HT. Thuram was allowed to run at the Werder back-line following interplay with Hofmann, and he expertly cut his shot back across goal and into the net. The home side were becoming increasingly potent in attack, and Hofmann saw a close-range attempt cleared off the line, but it only took a substitution for Bremen to put themselves back on level terms. Romano Schmid, having entered play just seconds earlier, sliced open the Gladbach defence with a killer ball to Ducksch, who took his time to round both Ko Itakura and Jonas Omlin and finish into the empty net.
Unmoved by the equaliser for the away side, Gladbach rallied to restore their lead. Lars Stindl’s shot was cleared away only as far as Florian Neuhaus, who fizzed a delightful volley into the bottom corner for his first goal in over a year. The run of play was all for the home side, but Bremen were deadly on the counter, as Füllkrug combined with Ducksch to allow the latter to strike brilliantly past Omlin for his second with just minutes remaining. The Foals will be devastated to succumb to their opponents given their relative dominance, and will hope to improve as they face Cologne in the Rhine derby after the international break.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marvin Ducksch (Werder Bremen)