Jens Stage hasn’t had the easiest start to life at Werder. The 25-year-old was one of the side’s key summer transfers, but has had to settle for a bench role in recent weeks. However, the Dane worked as hard as possible whenever he is called upon, and therefore represents what this Werder side is standing for this season: to give everything both on and off the pitch.
Deep into added time, with Werder leading through a late penalty, TSG Hoffenheim got another good chance at goal. Prömel shoots from a short distance, but Jens Stage throws himself in front of the shot, and stops the equaliser. “For me, that was the game’s decisive moment,” head coach Ole Werner told the television cameras.
Stage didn’t just stop the ball from going in, however – he celebrated his last game intervention like it were a goal of his own. This mentality, according to Werner, is playing a key role in this season’s success so far: “It’s never easy for a player to sit on the bench,” the coach said. “You’ve still got to come on and do your job for the team. That is a theme which has been excellently shown and exemplified by the squad.”
It’s not just Stage, but the whole team who have, many times this season, proven that every single player is an important component. The 3-2 victory in Dortmund, where all three goals were scored by substitutes, is an example. But substitutes have repeatedly been involved in important goals in other matches. Stage himself was involved most recently in the last home game against Gladbach, where he set up Werder's fifth goal shortly after coming off the bench. On Friday, he once again showed his qualities from the bench and helped the team take three important points.
