Ten-man Werder hold Bayern München

By: Jackson | March 1st, 2009

Although playing a man down for the overwhelming majority of the match the Green Whites held Bayern to a nil draw at Weserstadion. While Thomas Schaaf and company were gunning for three points after the mid week success in the UEFA Cup, all things considered the match is definitely a moral victory.

There was no holding back in the match as both sides came out flying and scoreless draw seemed highly unlikely. Barely four minutes in, Mesut Özil accepted Diego’s pass before striking from five metres out. His attempted was saved by Bavarian keeper Michael Rensing but with the rebound drifting near the goal-line but Zé Roberto was there before Hugo Almeida could zero in. However tactical plans for Werder took a turn ten minutes later when Naldo was harshly adjudged with a straight-red for bringing down Bastian Schweinsteiger who was breaking free. Down a man Thomas Schaaf has no other choice to bring in Sebastian Boenisch for Hugo Almeida and collapse into a 4-4-1. Somewhat surprisingly the Jürgen Klinsmann’s side lacked the engine to break down the home side and the next scoring chance was just after the half hour when Clemens Fritz’s cross into the six yard box was sent wide by Claudio Pizarro.

After the restart can’t-wait-to-go-home to Köln Lukas Podolski came in for Bastian Schweinsteiger but still the Bavarian’s seemed rooted and lacked the movement that saw them litter Sporting for five goals in the Champions League this past Wednesday. As the match headed towards the hour Alexandros Tziolis, on-loan from Panathinaikos, tried from twenty metres but it narrowly edged over the crossbar. By the seventieth minute the action was fast paced with Pizzaro missing a close range effort with seventeen minutes left and two minutes later Franck Ribéry and Zé Roberto denied by Christian Vander. Following those attempts both sides clamped down with disciplined defending the match ended without a score.

Photo credit: Werder Bremen