After the substitution of Leonardo Bittencourt, SV Werder Bremen turned the game around at 1. FC Nürnberg, with his late goal giving them a 2:1 victory The return of other leading players also made itself felt straight away.
63 minutes Leonardo Bittencourt had to wait for his start on Friday evening. But he didn’t really handle it well: “I was very impatient.” Ömer Toprak, initially also a substitute, also made an early appearance for Bittencourt, saying: “Leo, it’s time now, you have to come in slowly.” The Werder captain, who was back in the squad for the first time since almost two months out of action, obviously had an intuition.
With the substitution of Bittencourt after just over an hour, Werder coach Markus Anfang sent a clear signal. His impulse from the bench was to be understood as a move for even more offensive spirit on the pitch; understandable when trailing 0:1. Bremen’s three-man backline became a four-man backline, Manuel Mbom moved from midfield back to the right, giving Bittencourt and Schmid (and substitute Oscar Schönfelder shortly afterwards) more attacking freedom on the wings – and giving their team more presence in the Nuremberg half.
Bittencourt felt the conviction already in the dressing room
After the first half, which Werder had also dominated but finished behind, the conviction was palpable in the dressing room that “we would turn the game around today”, said Bittencourt. The 27-year-old also referred to the fact that for the first time this season the five current members of Bremen’s team council were in the squad, and incidentally also on the pitch at the final whistle: Toprak, Christian Groß, Bittencourt (all substitutes), Niclas Füllkrug (scorer and provider of assists), Milos Veljkovic.
“The boys also felt a bit of security: Ömer was there, Grosso was there, I was there.” In other words, those leading players chosen by their teammates who had been out for a longer period of time recently and who “have the experience”, Bittencourt explained: “So that it’s not always the coach who has to say something in the dressing room, but we encourage each other. “
You need a couple of guys who already know the whole scenario.
Many of Werder’s young professionals wouldn’t have gone through situations like the one on Friday night so often: a 0:1 deficit, in Nuremberg. “You have to be able to shake that off first, and you need a couple of guys who already know the whole scenario,” said Bittencourt, so it was helpful for the Bundesliga relegated side to have the more experienced pros back: “It was a nice day, it was fun.”
Bittencourt’s joy would have been dampened, however, if Werder had not turned the game around when he scored the 2-1 in the 88th minute. Winning points interests him less, because they wouldn’t really get you anywhere: “I want to win,” he said, three times. “And that has to get into these heads.” Most recently, in the 1-1 draw against league leaders St. Pauli, when he was absent due to an infection, the offensive player had the feeling that Hamburg wanted the win more. But this time, in Nuremberg, “I realised: Today we want to win – we have to keep working on that”.
After the break Schalke is waiting – with Bittencourt?
After the international break, when it comes to FC Schalke 04, then again with Bittencourt in the starting eleven? In Nuremberg, coach Anfang was still a little cautious, “we have to watch out for you a little bit”, he told him, in order to avoid a setback after his knee ligament injury of almost three months. However, the substitution then still achieved its effect. “That it worked out like that,” Bittencourt said, “is nice for the coach, nice for me – but then the week after next I’d like to play from the start.”
