SV Werder Bremen were defeated 3-1 by Hannover 96 in their friendly fixture at the Heinz von Heiden Arena on Thursday afternoon. The hosts took the lead just prior to the break through Lars Gindorf (42’), which was doubled not long after by Muhammed Damar (47’). Although Werder’s U23 player Joel Imasuen was able to get one back for the Green-Whites (62’), Jannik Dehm put the game to bed for Hannover by netting their third in the closing stages of the game (82’).
Line-up and formation: Head coach Ole Werner had to deal with a number of absentees for the friendly against the second-division side, as Romano Schmid, Olivier Deman, Isak Hansen-Aarøen and Nick Woltemade are currently in action for their respective national teams. Niklas Stark and Marco Friedl were unavailable for the game due to injury, while Anthony Jung, Milos Veljkovic, Justin Njinmah, and Felix Agu completed individual sessions at the beginning of the week. Besides, Werner emphasised that the friendly would ultimately be good experience for “those who hadn’t been in action for a while.”
Werder’s starting XI: Pavlenka, Pieper, Ducksch, Weiser, Kownacki, Bittencourt, Keïta, Malatini, Alvero, Opitz, Groß.
Bench: Dos Santos Haesler, Stage, Lynen, Wagner, Kébé, Heitmann, Imasuen, Röcker.
First-half highlights:
7th minute:The hosts have their first clear-cut chance of the game, which sees Demar fire one at Werder’s net from a tight angle, but Pavlenka is able to send it out for a corner.
36th minute: Kownacki walks off the pitch clutching his hamstring, and Werder bring on Stage in his place.
42nd minute: Hannover combine down the left and find Teuchert in the penalty area, who spots an oncoming Gindorf and delivers it into his path. The youngster is able to find the Green-White net from close range to open the scoring for the hosts.
Second-half highlights:
47th minute: Voglsammer curls a cross into the path of Damar at the back post, who pulls the trigger first time to double Hannover’s lead.
56th minute: Keïta lines one up in the penalty area, but Weinkauf is able to send the ball out for a corner with his leg.
62nd minute: The Green-Whites get a goal back! With his back to the Hannover net, Ducksch knocks the ball into the path of young talent Imasuen, whose first-time strike finds the bottom corner.
82nd minute: It’s three for the hosts. Voglsammer advances down the middle towards goal and plays in Dehm on his right, who fires the ball first time into the far corner.
90th minute +2: Full-time. Werder lose 3-1 to Hannover 96.
Summary: Despite the result, the friendly ultimately fulfilled the targets Ole Werner set out to achieve, and provided players such as Amos Pieper with some minutes on the pitch. Unfortunately, Dawid Kownacki was forced to come off after presumably injuring his hamstring in the first half.
