Mertesacker Got Air

I hate it when people say “oh, we deserved to win this”. The better team – the team that holds possession, has the better chances, plays the better football, etc. – does not always win the football match. If that always happened, why bother playing at all? The team that wins is the team that manages to get the ball in the net, no matter HOW unfair it may be.

Werder had two major defensive lapses in concentration, thus Wolfsburg took their two best chances and grabbed the lead twice. All credit to Dzeko for some excellent finishing. But I’m happy to see Werder did not back down and give up. They kept fighting, pushing forward, and finally – FINALLY – snagged that second goal.

We had some superb chances – a couple of headers in the first half from Almeida and Naldo. Wiese made some excellent saves, but so did Benaglio. We just couldn’t finish for 60-some minutes. Naldo and Boenisch got in each other’s way, allowing Dzeko to zip through the box and score past Wiese. His second goal was just superbly taken, passing right through Wiese’s legs. We kept pressing and managed to get two goals of our own, an excellent smash from Almeida and a header from our towering giant.

One of my favorite moments from the match was actually seeing some little kids in the crowd dancing happily after Big Per’s goal. One of them was in a Marko Marin shirt. I didn’t even think anyone would own a Marko shirt yet! I want one!

And Leverkusen thumped Stuttgart on Sunday morning, so we are back in 2nd place in the league, three points behind the leaders. But now we must put our focus back on Europe, with the Europa League resuming this week.

Category: Bundesliga, Match Report