Head coach Xabi Alonso made seven changes to his starting XI compared to the 1-1 draw with Stade Brest in the UEFA Champions League. Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapie, Alejandro Grimaldo and Florian Wirtz were the only players to keep their places. The match under the floodlights in the sold-out Weserstadion had plenty of pace and goalscoring opportunities from the off, with Bremen's Marvin Ducksch (1') and Victor Boniface (3') creating the first chances. Two more good chances from Ducksch were thwarted by Lukas Hradecky (14', 19').
And while the hosts' centre-forward missed the target at one end, the visitors' centre-forward was clinical at the other one: After a pin-point pass from Jeremie Frimpong, Boniface asserted himself in the centre and slotted home from close range to make it 1-0 for the Werkself (30'). The visitors then played with a bit more caution, avoided taking any major risks and were able to take their narrow lead into the break.
The first chance following the restart fell to the man who scored the opener, but this time Boniface found his equal in SVW keeper Michael Zetterer (56'). Otherwise, the first 20 minutes of the second half were mainly played out in midfield, before Ducksch fired two warning shots for Bremen (67‘, 70’). The 30-year-old then made his next chance count shortly afterwards. With Hradecky heading towards one corner, the striker headed into the opposite one on 75 minutes.
The score didn't stay at 1-1 for long, however: An own goal from Felix Agu in the 78th minute gave the Werkself the lead again - 2-1! Alonso then opted to shore up the centre of the defence and brought on Aleix Garcia (82'). Wirtz missed the opportunity to make sure of the win in the final stages when his shot hit the post (84'). Bremen then had the last word, with Romano Schmid equalising in the 90th minute to make the final score 2-2.
From Europe's premier club competition, via the Bundesliga, to the DFB Pokal: on Tuesday, 29 October (kick-off: 18:00 CET), the Werkself welcome Bundesliga 2 side SV 07 Elversberg to the BayArena in the second round of the DFB Pokal. Just three days later, Leverkusen host VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. The crunch match kicks off at 20.30 CET on Friday, 1 November.
The stats:
Werder Bremen: Zetterer - Malatini (86' Topp), Friedl, Pieper (82' Jung) - Weiser, Bittencourt (68' Njinmah), Lynen, Agu (82' Köhn) - Grüll (82' Burke), Schmid - Ducksch
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie - Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo - Wirtz, Terrier (82' Garcia) - Boniface (70' Schick)
Goals: 0-1 Boniface (30'), 1-1 Ducksch (74'), 1-2 Agu (78'/o.g.), 2-2 Schmid (90')
Yellow cards: Weiser - Hincapie
Referee: Florian Badstübner (Windsbach)
Spectators: 42,100 (sold out) at the Weserstadion
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