On Saturday evening, Bremen and Schalke drew 1-1 in an even match. Terodde had given the Königsblauen the lead in the meantime with his record second league goal, before a highly controversial penalty in injury time gave Werder the equaliser.
Before the game, the big question was how Werder would cope with the chaos surrounding ex-coach Markus Anfang (investigation regarding vaccination certificate) that had arisen at short notice in the run-up to the game. Bremen didn’t let any of that show in a competitive match, and thanks to a questionable penalty in injury time, a defeat was just averted.
Interim coach Danjiel Zenkovic was forced to change the starting eleven, which had drawn 1-1 against St. Pauli before the international break. Bittencourt and Toprak replaced the yellow-carded Rapp and Friedl, while Groß replaced the injured Veljkovic and Agu started on the right for Weiser. Schalke, on the other hand, who had recently suffered three defeats in a row in competitive matches, fielded the same eleven that had lost 4-2 against Darmstadt.
Palsson clears on the line
Both teams initially showed that self-confidence was not in surplus at the moment. Schalke disturbed Bremen very early in the build-up to the game, while Werder alternated between attacking and midfield pressing. As in the entire match, a lot of play took place between the penalty areas at the start, and the first chance of the match resulted from an errant pass by Bittencourt. The Bremen player involuntarily set Terodde free in the sixteen, whose chip then went just a hair’s breadth past the far post (11th).
As the game progressed, Werder found their way into the game mainly through duels, and towards the end of the first half, their play improved somewhat. After a little more than half an hour, SVW counterattacked in their own stadium. Ducksch crossed to Füllkrug in the penalty area, who pushed the ball past goalkeeper Fraisl with the tip of his foot. Palsson, however, was alert and cleared the ball just in front of the line (32nd minute).
Terodde’s 154th strike – excitement in injury time
The second half began with more momentum – and Werder had a chance to score through Ducksch (56th, 63rd) and Füllkrug (58th). Both attackers, however, acted too hastily and aimed too inaccurately from promising positions. S04 let up more and more, the home side found more and more offensive action. However, Bremen did not make enough out of their superiority, which took its revenge in the final phase: First, Thiaw headed just past the left post after a free kick by Ouwejan (78), then Terodde dusted off a rebound from Pavlenka to give Schalke the lead (82). Knappe thus became the sole record scorer in the 2nd division with 154 goals.
Werder threw everything forward again in the last minutes and brought one ball after the other into the penalty area. One of them slipped through for the Schalke players, and at the second post the substitute Assalé was brought down after a duel with Matriciani. Bremen called for a penalty – and referee Tobias Stieler watched the scene on the screens for quite some time. To the astonishment of many, the referee then pointed to the spot. Füllkrug didn’t miss the chance and converted safely down on the left (90.+9).
Bremen were lucky to get a point and are now unbeaten in four games. Next Saturday, SVW are guests in Kiel. Schalke, who have not won in three games, will host SV Sandhausen on the same day.
