Werder Bremen 0-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
The Bundesliga match between Werder Bremen and Borussia Monchengladbach turned out to be a defencive slugfest last Tuesday night as neither team converted a single goal for all of 90 minutes plus.
Die Werderaner — whose home struggles have been well-documented — put up a valiant stand against a high-scoring team in Gladbach as they continue to try and get out of the dreaded relegation zone, so getting a single point out of this was deemed crucial.
The Bundesliga 2020 odds heavily favoured the Foals prior to this match. Gladbach were priced at 1.88 while the home team are pegged at just 3.80 in the 1×2 market, which is why it is disappointing to see another lacklustre effort from them in this game.
Especially after dropping out of the top four in the standings when they lost to Bayer Leverkusen prior to this match, now I know why my fellow SBOBET colleague sees the Foals as a championship pretender rather than a contender at least for this season.
Despite the goalless ending, this match provided a healthy dose of our Bundesliga 2020 highlights as both teams generated great chances only to come up short in those attempts.
So without further ado, here is the quick recap of last night’s game at the Weserstadion.
Highlights of the game
The return of Davy Klaassen has been helpful for Werder Bremen, as he would link up with Milot Rashica once more to spearhead their attack all throughout the evening.
During the 12th minute, the Dutch forward almost broke the ice when he received a clever dummy from Josh Sargent, but his speedy attempt was parried away by Gladbach’s Yann Sommer.
The Foals during the game’s first 45 minutes would have some good chances as well which included a strong push when their defence allowed Stefan Lainer and Oscar Wendt to support their attack.
Marcus Thuram found Florian Neuhaus cutting towards the penalty box, but his shot was too wide.
Thuram would have a decent opportunity again during the 22nd minute when Lars Stindl found him via a long ball. However, Die Werderaner’s keeper Jiri Pavlenka correctly followed his instincts to prevent the French striker from scoring.
Fast forward to the second half at the 50th minute, Milot Rashica had a shot on target via a free kick, but Yann Sommer was there again to prevent the score after blocking two attempts from the home team.
Neuhaus and Thuram would hook up once more in the 60th minute after some brilliant passing, but Niklas Moisander was there to the rescue.
Gladbach had trouble in creating chances for themselves given the home team kept on controlling the possession and they almost gave the match away during the 73rd minute.
Yann Sommer almost made a costly mistake when he wasn’t able to control the pass from his teammate. However, Werder’s effort was blocked by Stefan Lainer as Josh Sargent couldn’t fully capitalise.
The last 15 minutes of the game saw these two sides have one shot on target after another.
Werder Bremen would have another great opportunity when Leonardo Bittencourt fired away a long distance strike, but too bad his shot just went over the crossbar.
Stefan Lainer would have his try by curling in a strong effort in the 87th minute, but Jiri Pavlenka saved the ball for Die Werderaner.
The home side added more pressure to the Foals during the last few minutes, which included a sequence where Yann Sommer had to work double time to prevent a score. Davie Seike tried a header and a low finish for a couple of last-gasp attempts, but the Swiss goalkeeper shut the door for Werder Bremen.
Key statistics
Werder Bremen have gone undefeated in two straight Bundesliga matches for the first time in this calendar year.
Alassane Plea is a missing man for the Foals against Werder as he hasn’t scored against them since October 2018. He is their second leading scorer with nine goals and eight assists this term.
Die Werderaner have yet to win at home against Borussia Monchengladbach since 2015 and this was the first goalless draw between the two clubs since March 1998.
What’s next?
Werder Bremen will cap off the month of May by visiting Schalke 04 at the Veltins Arena this Saturday. Then they will have a two-game homestand against Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg next.
Borussia Monchengladbach will face some bottom-tier teams in Union Berlin and SC Freiburg before visiting Bayern Munich in what should be a high-scoring showdown.
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