The late equalizer was a stab in the heart for everyone from Gladbach – but Marcus Thuram suffered particularly badly on the bench. Borussia’s striker could have almost single-handedly decided the Bundesliga home game against newly promoted Werder Bremen on Friday, but until he was substituted around 15 minutes before the final whistle, the Frenchman only scored one goal despite a few great chances. And so Thuram had to watch idly on the sidelines as his team gambled away the victory they believed to be certain in the final phase and only scored 2-2 (0-0).
“We had an unbelievable number of chances on foot to get things done. And as football is then, Bremen will come back,” said Gladbach’s Jonas Hofmann on DAZN: “Of course you leave the game with a bad feeling .”
Marvin Ducksch (65th minute/89th) saved Bremen from another away bankruptcy in the Bundesliga in the no-man’s-land duel in the Lower Rhine, where Werder last won twelve and a half years ago. “I think we deserved to win the game, too. But if we come back twice in the end, we can take the point well,” said Ducksch, the double packer.
Coach Ole Werner’s team was able to thank Ducksch as well as substitute keeper Michael Zetterer, who brilliantly replaced the sick Jiri Pavlenka in his Bundesliga starting XI debut. Only Thuram’s twelfth goal of the season (48th), who missed a few more top-class goals, and against Florian Neuhaus (73rd) was Bremen’s best powerless. Due to the draw, both table neighbors remain head to head in the middle of the table with 31 points.
Of course, this is much more disappointing for Borussia, who dominated the entire game, than it was for the promoted team. Thuram alone could have been the match winner, but failed early on due to the strong Zetterer (22nd) and shortly before the break due to his own snootiness. Instead of consistently shooting the ball free in front of Zetterer on goal, the Frenchman, who was free in the summer, tried a maddeningly casual action from the air with his heel and failed miserably.
The 54,042 spectators in the sold-out Borussia Park saw an intense game between the two table neighbors right from the start. As expected, Borussia played the game and didn’t seem as sluggish as last time. The guest defense, which had to be reorganized with two starting eleven debutants, came under pressure a few times in the first half. In addition to Zetterer, Werder coach Ole Werner also helped 17-year-old Fabio Chiarodia to make his Bundesliga debut in the back three. According to data service Opta, the native of Oldenburg even became Werder’s youngest starting XI player in the Bundesliga.
The teenager started nervously at first and made the first big chance of the game possible through a mistake by Gladbach captain Lars Stindl (8th), but then improved. The guests waited a long time and confused Borussia with their many position and formation changes. Only towards the end of the first half did the promoted team, who had lost five of their last six away games, become bolder.
After the change, there was hardly anything to be seen from Werder apart from the goal after an uncertain action by Borussia keeper Jonas Omlin. The Swiss was back in the Gladbach goal for the first time since the 4-0 loss at Mainz 05 three weeks ago. But later, with Ducksch’s second goal, Omlin had to reach behind him again.
DFL to the game Bundesliga table
