Maximilian Beier from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim emphatically recommended himself to national coach Julian Nagelsmann with two more goals. The 21-year-old scored his eleventh and twelfth goals of the season (8th and 44th minutes) in Kraichgauer’s 2-1 (2-0) win against Werder Bremen and can dream of taking part in the European Championship.
At the end of the 24th matchday in the Bundesliga, coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team celebrated their first home win of the year. For Werder, the late goal from Skelly Alvero (90.2) was not enough.
Bremen can’t get Beier under control
In the table, TSG finished seventh, three points clear of Bremen, who suffered their second defeat in the second half of the season. Before the game, Colombian striker Rafael Borré said goodbye to Werder as expected. The striker is moving to Brazil to first division club Internacional Porto Alegre, as the South Americans announced on social networks. “It is true that this is imminent,” said head coach Ole Werner immediately before the game on the DAZN streaming service and emphasized: “Now others have the opportunity to fill this gap.”
In front of 25,000 spectators in Sinsheim, Hoffenheim first opened up gaps in the opposing defense: Beier and Ihlas Bebou had already taken the lead in the opening minutes. Then it was the TSG striker who shot directly after a corner from Anton Stach and made it 1-0. Bremen couldn’t get the quick Beier under control at all: a few minutes later, Bebou missed the next chance after his cross.
On the other side, the Werder strikers Nick Woltemade and Marvin Ducksch initially barely developed because Florian Grillitsch and Umut Tohumcu in particular kept intercepting the guests’ balls. A week after the 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund and the end of a winless streak of eight league games, the Hoffenheim team seemed liberated and continued to play quickly.
Werder only managed to score the next goal in the majority
Once Werder picked up the pace, things immediately became dangerous: Felix Agu shot over Oliver Baumann’s goal from a tight angle (22′). Shortly afterwards the TSG keeper had to save against Ducksch. In the 39th minute, Baumann was lucky when Ducksch hit the post. The next goal went to Beier again: The U21 national player used a cross from Bebou in a lightning attack to make it 2-0.
Werder had previously only conceded four goals in six second half games. In the entertaining game, Beier was defeated by goalkeeper Michael Zetterer after just under an hour. Beier almost took a penalty, but referee Matthias Jöllenbeck decided against it after video evidence.
Hoffenheim’s Marius Bülter was then shown a yellow-red card for repeated foul play (73′). Werder threw everything forward in the majority, but Baumann parried a shot from Alvero (81′), and Justin Njinmah only hit the side netting (88′). Then Alvero made things exciting with his heel, but the equalizer was no longer achieved.
