On the 23rd matchday of the Bundesliga, two surprise teams are thwarted by basement children: Stuttgart only gets one point against Cologne, Werder Bremen is lucky twice that their opponent is denied the winning goal.
SV Werder Bremen – SV Darmstadt 98 1:1 (1:1)
The high flight has stopped for the time being: Werder Bremen has suffered a bitter setback in the fight for the international places in the Bundesliga. Against bottom team Darmstadt 98, Ole Werner’s recently in-form team couldn’t get past a somewhat unfortunate 1:1 (1:1) and surprisingly missed their fifth win in the last six games.
Christoph Zimmermann first scored into his own goal to give Bremen the lead (8th). Julian Justvan (33rd) equalized for the bravely fighting Darmstadt team, whose horror series just doesn’t want to end despite the respectable success. The Hessians, who had to do without their suspended coach Torsten Lieberknecht, have been waiting for a win since October 7, 2023.
Due to the unprecedented lack of personnel in central defense, Werder coach Werner had to restructure his team before the game. The trained six player Christian Groß moved into the position in the center of defense, where four potential regular players have now been sidelined since captain Marco Friedl’s syndesmosis tear.
Nevertheless, the hosts started furiously with a stable defense in the finest northern German drizzle. After a first missed big chance from Romano Schmid, who shot over from close range, an own goal gave Bremen an early lead. The strong Schmid crossed low into the middle, Zimmermann slotted the ball into the net in front of Justin Njinmah, who was ready to shoot.
Werder, which announced current head of professional football Clemens Fritz during the week as the successor to managing director Frank Baumann, who left in the summer, had to settle for a draw at half-time despite further chances. A double deflected shot from Justvan slipped through the arms of Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer – much to the delight of Ovid Hajou, who represented Lilien coach Lieberknecht on the sidelines after his fourth yellow card of the current season.
The first chance of the second half also belonged to the guests. Marvin Mehlem aimed too high from a good shooting position (47th). Marvin Ducksch, who had been shown yellow in the first half after a swoop, tested Darmstadt keeper Marcel Schuhen (52′) with a long-range shot on the other side a little later, who was also able to excel after around an hour. He reacted strongly both against the free-standing Njinmah and against Ducksch from a tight angle.
The guests celebrated in the final phase, but Tim Skarke’s supposed opening goal didn’t count because it was offside (78′). In the sixth minute of injury time, Skarke scored again after a serious mistake by Werder’s goalkeeper Michael Zetterer, but this time Skarke had previously touched the ball with his hand.
VfB Stuttgart – 1. FC Cologne 1:1 (0:0)
VfB Stuttgart suffered a small setback in the fight for participation in the Champions League. After four wins in a row, Sebastian Hoeneß’s team only managed a 1-1 (0-0) draw against a very uncomfortable 1. FC Köln. VfB, which was almost relegated last season, can still dream of at least taking part in the Europa League.
After a tough first half, Enzo Millot gave Stuttgart the lead with a nice move (53′). However, as before, Cologne were not impressed – Eric Martel was spot on after a corner kick assisted by Linton Maina and took advantage of his chance (62′). The billy goats remain in the relegation place.
Cologne had the first chance of the game. After Jan Thielmann was defeated by goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow (3rd), Stuttgart took the initiative. Hoeneß had changed his starting line-up in a few positions, which was also forced due to the failures of striker Deniz Undav and Maximilian Mittelstädt, but this hardly seemed to have any impact on VfB’s game.
Serhou Guirassy had the best chance to take the lead (17th) for Stuttgart, and the lead seemed to be only a matter of time. However, the people of Cologne stabilized. They were good defensively and also played boldly going forward. Above all, the Stuttgart team lost their momentum against poisonous guests: the passing game was sometimes imprecise and crosses went nowhere.
“One or two times the last pass was missing,” said the suspended Pascal Stenzel during the break on Sky about the game of his teammates, who didn’t know what to do with their clear preponderance in ball possession statistics. It was like that until the 53rd minute, when Chris Führich took the initiative, played a wonderful one-two with Hiroki Ito – and Millot just had to push in.
Cologne? Didn’t seem dejected at all, but was lucky after the equalizer that Millot didn’t manage to get the ball past goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe after a pass from Guirassy (68′). Stuttgart pushed for victory – but another brilliant idea failed to materialize.
Union Berlin – 1. FC Heidenheim 2:2 (2:1)
Union Berlin gave up three big points on the way to staying in the league and missed a club record. The Köpenickers drew 2-2 (2-1) from 1. FC Heidenheim and, after four league home wins in a row, did not leave the field as winners for the first time since the end of November in the Alte Försterei. The Berliners have never won five home games in a row in their Bundesliga history.
With 25 points, the buffer for the relegation place remains comfortable for the Berliners, for whom Robin Gosens (44th) and Andras Schäfer (45th + 2) scored. Meanwhile, the Heidenheimers (28), for whom Jan-Niklas Beste (71.) secured a point, missed out on being able to look cautiously towards Europe with a win. Nikola Dovedan (3rd) gave coach Frank Schmidt’s team an early lead.
Before the game, Union coach Nenad Bjelica had warned about “unpleasant” and “strong fighting” Heidenheimers – and the Croatian was right. The guests attacked early, Dovedan took the early lead after a mistake in Berlin’s defense.
The Iron Men, who had to make do without the suspended Kevin Volland (yellow-red) and Diogo Leite (fifth yellow card), then woke up, but without really becoming dangerous. Beste appeared free in front of the goal on the other side, but the Heidenheim winger waited too long to finish and was blocked at the last moment (24th).
The game became more balanced, Union’s Danilho Doekhi narrowly missed the equalizer with a header from a corner (33′). Shortly before the break, the Berliners turned it up: First Gosens scored from the crowd after a free kick, then Schäfer scored his first goal of the season with a long-range shot – Brenden Aaronson deflected the ball unstoppable.
Union took the momentum after the break, but Schäfer (48th) and Josip Juranovic (53rd) missed the preliminary decision. The Heidenheim team pushed for an equalizer, Tim Kleindienst (63′) headed just centimeters past the goal after a corner. Beste made it better a little later with a lob and had to be substituted immediately afterwards with a thigh problem.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – VfL Bochum 5:2 (2:0)
Borussia Mönchengladbach celebrated their longed-for first win of the second half of the season and thus gained some breathing room in the bottom of the table. Coach Gerardo Seoane’s team won 5:2 (2:0) against Bayern conqueror VfL Bochum, it was their first success after five consecutive matches without a win.
Nathan Ngoumou (28th), captain Julian Weigl with a penalty kick (35th), substitute Rocco Reitz (72nd), Jordan (78th) and Franck Honorat (90th + 6) secured Borussia the important home win. In the table, the Gladbachers left 15th place with 25 points and moved past Bochum, for whom Philipp Hofmann (75th) and Keven Schlotterbeck (87th) scored.
Before the landmark encounter for the home team, there was a minute’s silence for former Borussia players Ulrik Le Fevre and Friedhelm Frontzeck. The Dane, who was involved in Gladbach’s first two championships, died at the age of 77. Frontzeck, father of coach Michael Frontzeck, won the DFB Cup with the club in 1960. He was 85 years old.
Amid the sadness, Stefan Lainer brought joy to Borussia Park. The Austrian was back in the starting line-up for the first time since recovering from cancer, and the home crowd cheered loudly when the lineup was announced.
After a short delay, the visiting fans had arrived late due to massive travel problems, the ball rolled at 3:40 p.m. – and Bochum’s Bernardo scored the supposed lead after just four minutes (4th). The Brazilian had previously committed a handball, but after a VAR check the goal was overturned.
The Gladbachers were not unsettled by the first difficult situation; Jordan (6th) headed the ball onto the crossbar a short time later. Borussia won many duels, and after winning the ball they usually moved forward at lightning speed on both flanks. But the lead fell after a corner: Ngoumou extended and the ball landed in the goal via Bochum’s Christian Gamboa.
Shortly afterwards, Iwan Ordez hit Manu Kone on the foot in the penalty area, Weigl safely increased. The stadium shook and Seoane high-fived with relief from the entire bench. Gladbach was now in a frenzy, but Florian Neuhaus’s 3-0 was overturned after another video review due to previous foul play (44′). After a heated pack formation in which Bochum keeper Manuel Riemann received his fifth yellow card, the break went on.
In the second round, Jordan missed the preliminary decision from close range (56th). Bochum remained courageous, but created few compelling opportunities. At the other end, Reitz scored instead, and Hofmann shortened the score shortly afterwards. But Gladbach countered coldly.