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Goalless draw in friendly against St. Pauli
MATCH REPORT FROM THE FRIENDLY AT FC ST. PAULI
04/01/26 | 5 Min
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SV Werder Bremen and FC St. Pauli played out a goalless draw in front of 25,087 fans at the Millerntor. Despite heavy snowfall, the hosts managed to prepare the pitch in time for kick-off, but the crowd was ultimately denied a goal.
FIRST HALFCoulibaly denies Pereira Lage, Sugawara fires over from range
After heading into the winter break with a 0-0 draw at FC Augsburg, Werder welcomed Karim Coulibaly back into the starting XI following his suspension. The 18-year-old was immediately called into action when Mathias Pereira Lage took aim inside the box, with the centre-back getting a crucial touch to deflect the shot behind for a corner (16’). Early on, Werder’s back line was under pressure as St. Pauli looked to press high up the pitch.
From the resulting corner, Jackson Irvine flicked the ball on towards the far post, where Hauke Wahl couldn’t quite force it on target from a tight angle (22’), allowing Werder to clear their lines. After Lars Ritzka tested Mio Backhaus with a long-range effort, which the goalkeeper dealt with comfortably, Horst Steffen’s side began to grow into the game (27’).
Up to that point, Werder had struggled to bring their attacking pace into play on the counter. Their first real threat came from an attack down the right, with Jens Stage’s cross only partially cleared by the hosts. Yukinari Sugawara arrived from deep and unleashed a powerful effort from the edge of the box that flew just wide (33’).
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SECOND HALFHein straight into the action, Wöber makes his return
At the break, both sides made wholesale changes across the pitch, with only St. Pauli goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj remaining on. The reshuffle also saw Maximilian Wöber make his first appearance in a Werder shirt since the DFB-Pokal tie in Bielefeld.
The Boys in Brown started the second half with intent, and Karl Hein was quickly called upon. After a low cross from Erik Ahlstrand, the Estonia international spread himself well to deny Marwin Schmitz from close range (46’). Shortly afterwards, Manolis Saliakas teed up Oladapo Afolayan, whose effort drifted narrowly wide (51’). As the half wore on, the game increasingly unfolded between the two penalty areas, with both sides lacking the final push into dangerous positions to tilt the contest. Following a high turnover late on, Joel Fujita had one last attempt on goal, but once again Hein stood firm to keep the scores level (89’).
Werder won’t have to wait long for their next test. Just six days from now, Steffen’s side return to Bundesliga action when they host TSG Hoffenheim at the Weserstadion on Saturday, 10th January 2026 (15:30 CET) on matchday 16.
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Match statistics
FC St. Pauli: Vasilj (60’ Voll) - Wahl (46’ Dzwigala), Smith (46’ Ando), Mets (46’ Robatsch) - Pyrka (46’ Saliakas), Sands (46’ Fujita), Irvine (46’ Schmitz (80’ Schmidt)), Ritzka (46’ Ahlstrand) - Jones (46’ Metcalfe), Sinani (46’ Ceesay), Pereira Lage (46’ Afolayan)
SV Werder: Backhaus (46’ Hein) - Pieper (46’ Malatini), Friedl (46’ Stark), Coulibaly (46’ Wöber) - Sugawara (46’ Grüll), Lynen (46’ Alvero), Stage (46’ Adeh), Schmidt (46’ Deman) - Schmid (46’ Čović), Puertas (46’ Mbangula) - Njinmah (46’ Topp)
Referee: Luca Jürgensen
Attendance: 25,087
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