15th matchday
Despite Reitz’s double pack: Gladbach only drew against Werder
Marvin Ducksch secured Werder Bremen a point in Gladbach. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Gladbach’s new fan favorite Rocco Reitz almost became the match winner against Werder Bremen. But the Borussia defense made some serious misfires.
Also a double pack from Shootingstar Rocco Reitz was unable to give Borussia Mönchengladbach their sixth competitive home win in a row against Werder Bremen. Despite the two goals from the new Gladbach fan favorite (45th minute/49th), Borussia only played 2:2 (1:1) at the start of the 15th Bundesliga matchday.
Two major defensive errors by Gladbach saved a lucky away point for coach Ole Werner’s guests – only their second ever this season. Rafael Borré (7th) and Marvin Ducksch (76th) benefited from bad misses from Gladbach’s Joe Scally and Nico Elvedi. A red card against Christoph Kramer in added time (90+2) was withdrawn after viewing the video images.
“We haven’t managed to remain consistently solid defensively,” Gladbach coach Gerardo Seoane complained to DAZN before the game in view of his team’s second-worst defense in the Bundesliga. Instead of taking a step towards the European Cup places, the Gladbachers are stagnating in the middle of the table with 17 points from 16 games. Werder has two points less.
Game begins with investor protest
The game began with the silence previously announced by the active fan scene from all over Germany. In order to protest against the planned investor deal by the German Football League (DFL), both fan camps refused the usual support in the first twelve minutes of the game. Instead, DFL insults could be read on banners.
The silence of the opening minutes was only broken by the cheers of the 4,000 Werder fans who had traveled with us. The guests took the lead early on because Gladbach showed catastrophic defensive behavior before Borré took the lead. After a cross from Romano Schmid from the half field, the Colombian was the only Bremen player who was far too free in the middle of Gladbach’s defensive line.
Offensively, the hosts were once again able to thank Reitz, who turned the game around. Only after an interruption of around five minutes, after chocolate coin imitations were thrown onto the field from the Gladbach fan block in protest against the DFL, did the Borussia game pick up speed.
Gladbach doesn’t use rooms
However, the hosts initially didn’t really know how to use the surprisingly spacious rooms that the Bremen team offered. It was only shortly before half time that the deserved equalizer came through a successful shot from Reitz.
And the U21 international scored his fourth goal of the season shortly after the break. Once again, Borussia had a surprising amount of space on the counterattack. The equally strong Robin Hack prepared both goals for Borussia’s new favorite, who has become the undisputed regular player since the summer, in his Bundesliga starting eleven debut.
However, it wasn’t enough to win, as the Borussia defense essentially gave Bremen the equalizer. Elvedi misjudged the ball so that the ball fell at Ducksch’s feet.