23rd matchday
Werder in double video evidence luck against Darmstadt
Werder’s Mitchell Weiser (l) fights for the ball against Darmstadt’s Matej Maglica. Photo
© Carmen Jaspersen/dpa
Werder missed the chance to get even closer to the European Cup places. The 1-1 draw against Darmstadt 98 is not enough. But the draw is hardly of any use to the valiantly fighting bottom of the table.
Werder Bremen cannot win against the newcomers to the Bundesliga. After two defeats against newcomers 1. FC Heidenheim, the Hanseatic League came against Darmstadt 98 did not go beyond 1:1 (1:1).
In the first half of the season, the Hessians won 4-2 against Werder. However, the draw did not help either team: Bremen not in the possible race for the European Cup places, and the bottom team from Darmstadt not in the fight to stay in the league.
The guests also made life difficult for themselves in front of 41,500 spectators. Christoph Zimmermann (9th minute) put his team behind with an own goal. Julian Justvan (33rd) at least managed to equalize.
The Hessians’ point was not undeserved. Although the Bremen team was clearly the team that dominated the game, the Darmstadt team defended themselves bravely – and were doubly unlucky: the supposed winning goal by Tim Skarke (78th/90th + 5) was denied twice, each time after video evidence. This extended Darmstadt’s winless streak to 16 games.
Werder started with the self-confidence from the positive series that had brought them out of the relegation zone and close to the European Cup places. From the start, the Bremen team were superior to the Darmstadt team, who initially seemed unsettled. In addition, the Hessians had to make do on the sidelines without their coach Torsten Lieberknecht, who was suspended. His assistant Ovid Hajou represented him.
Romano Schmid had the chance to take the lead in the second minute after a nice individual performance from Justin Njinmah, but missed from close range. The offensive efforts of the Hanseatic League rewarded the guests – involuntarily. After a cross, the Darmstadt carpenter maneuvered the ball into his own goal in his attempt to save the game.
Werder also seemed to have everything under control in the period that followed. At first, the Hessians rarely came in front of the hosts’ goal. The defensive chain functioned even without the injured boss Marco Friedl. Christian Groß took over his task. In the 18th minute, Marvin Ducksch fell in a duel with Darmstadt’s goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen. Referee Florian Badstübner pointed to the penalty spot. After video evidence, he reversed the decision and gave national player Ducksch a yellow card for a swallow.
The people of Bremen were overweight. But too often there was a lack of precision on the final pass. The guests increasingly had better access to the game. However, the equalizer was a bit of a surprise when Justvan scored from 22 meters.
And the bottom team even had the opportunity to take the lead right after the break. But Marvin Mehlem (49th) missed from a promising position. After that, Werder continued to dominate the game. Njinmah (60th) failed in Bremen’s best chance due to the strong reaction of his shoes. In the end, Werder was even lucky that Skarke’s Darmstadt goals didn’t count – and a major mistake by Werder goalkeeper Michael Zetterer in the final seconds, among other things, had no impact.