Ten-man Werder lose in Freiburg

A first defeat away from home this season

Show Matchcenter

Lee Buchanan celebrated his first start for Werder in the game against Freiburg. (Photo: WERDER.DE)

Match Report

Saturday, 22.10.2022 / 18:00

Von Sophie Eilers

Werder Bremen suffered a 2-0 defeat in their Saturday afternoon fixture away to SC Freiburg. Following a 14th-minute red card for Marco Friedl, Werder had to defend against a strong SCF team with everything they had. The first half was largely dominated by the home side, and that pattern continued after the break. With 56 minutes on the clock, Lukas Kübler fired Freiburg into the lead and with ten minutes of normal time to go, Vincenzo Grifo doubled the lead with a penalty. Despite the man’s disadvantage, Werder defended well, but were unable to prevent a defeat as the final whistle came.

Team news: Christian Groß and Niklas Schmidt missed out on the squad through illness. Ole Werner was also without Niklas Stark after he suffered a bruised foot in Paderborn, while Milos Veljkovic remained sidelined with a muscular problem.

Werder XI: Pavlenka – Jung, Pieper, Stage, Ducksch, Weiser, Füllkrug, Schmid, Buchanan, Gruev, Friedl.

Bench: Zetterer – Burke, Bittencourt, Salifou, Dinkci, Goller, Agu, Chiarodia.

Werder go a man down

Marco Friedl's red card gave Werder a setback early on. (Photo: WERDER.DE).

First-half highlights:

3': The first opportunity for the Green-Whites already. Niclas Füllkrug eyes the run of Marvin Ducksch, but his through ball has a little too much on it and Flekken is able to get there first.

14': Marco Friedl is sent for an early bath by referee Bastian Dankert. The Austrian brings down Gregoritsch as the last man and is shown a straight red.

16': A huge chance for Freiburg to open the scoring from the resulting free-kick. The ball falls to Sildilla with the goal at his mercy, but he can’t get it out of his feet properly and drags a rushed shot wide. A let-off for Werder.

19': Freiburg upping the ante now. Grifo slips a pass through to Günter and his low ball across the six-yard box almost reaches Sildilla. Fortunately, Buchanan is alert and intercepts at the expense of a corner that comes to nothing.

29': Another SCF attack. Some neat build-up play leads to a shot from Kyereh, although it’s an easy enough save for Jiri Pavlenka.

31': The ten men of Werder are struggling to get into the final third. Romano Schmid has an opening to shoot from range, but it isn’t troubling the goalkeeper.

44': Keitel has a pop from the left-hand side of the area, but Pavlenka is able to smother the shot.

Freiburg continue their dominance

Werder conceded two goals in the second half. (Photo: WERDER.DE)

Second-half highlights:

46’: Romano Schmid takes a high Freiburg boot in the side and goes down in pain. After a bit of treatment, though, he is able to continue.

48’: Ilia Gruev brings the ball down the left channel. Jens Stage is lurking, but the Dane’s header is poor and off target.

53’: Niclas Füllkrug wins the ball from Kiliann Sildillia and goes for a curler from range. Ginter deflects the effort away for a corner.

54’: The subsequent corner from Marvin Ducksch is flicked on by Amos Pieper. Füllkrug doesn’t connect properly but the ball drops to Tony Jung, eight yards out – his effort flies well over the bar.

56’: Freiburg take the lead through Lukas Kübler. Grifo comes in from the left and beats Mitch Weiser in the area. His cross comes out to the goalscorer on the right, who smashes the ball into the far corner.

62’: Grifo has a hit from long range, which Pavlenka deals with well. Freiburg are not letting up after taking the lead – Werder are back on defensive duties.

66’: Pavlenka with a wonderful stop! Gregoritsch is one-on-one with the ‘keeper, but Werder’s number 1 sticks out a leg and brilliantly deflects the ball over the bar. The following corner is defended well.

72’: Gregoritsch has another attempt, but the ball is blocked again and lands at the feet of Sildillia, who powerfully fires well wide.

80’: Freiburg double their advantage from 12 yards. Felix Agu brings down Grifo inside the penalty area, and the man who won the spot-kick scores.

84’: The home side hunt for their third goal. Günter crosses low from the left for the onrushing Ritsu Doan. The Japanese international misses from just a couple of yards out, though.

90’+6: The full time whistle comes on a 2-0 defeat for Werder in Freiburg.

Summary: Pre-match favourites Freiburg got the better of SVW. The away side were forced to defend for large portions of the game and could only break forward briefly on the counter. The early red card meant Ole Werner’s side could not get going and allowed SCF the majority of the ball. At the end of the day, Freiburg deserved the three points, even if Werder defended well against a strong attack for large portions.