SV Werder Bremen lost the opening match of the 54th Bundesliga season 6-0 against Bayern München. After two early setbacks in the 9th and 13th minutes, Werder had to try and play their way back into the game, however, even after the restart the Green-Whites couldn’t find a foothold and lost comprehensively.
Line-up and formation: Viktor Skripnik rung the changes after last week’s defeat to Lotte in the DFB Cup with Max Kruse and Zlatko Junuzovic both ruled out through injury. The head coach employed a 4-2-3-1 formation with five new players coming into the side. Luca Caldirola and Fallou Diagne came into the back four at the expense of Janek Sternberg and Niklas Moisander. New recruit Robert Bauer made his debut and formed one half of the defensive midfield alongside captain Clemens Fritz. Florian Grillitsch also came in and Aaron Johannsson lead the attack, meaning there was no space for Lennart Thy, who began on the bench.
1st minute: FC Bayern kick off the 54th Bundesliga season which is being broadcast in 210 different countries. Come on, Werder!
9th minute: Goal for Bayern. Luca Caldirola heads a Philipp Lahm cross out of the box but only as far as Xabi Alonso who volleys it into the Werder goal from 22 yards and leave Felix Wiedwald with no chance.
13th minute: 2-0 to Bayern. Franck Ribéry takes the whole of the Werder defence out of the game with one pass, putting Robert Lewandoowski one-on-one with Wiedwald and he finishes into the top corner. An early second for the champions.
20th minute: Werder are beginning to find their feet in the game but are struggling to test the Bayern defence as two crosses from Yatabaré find no green shirts in the Bayern box. Werder having no luck.
32nd minute: Next chance for Bayern. Thomas Müller lets fly from distance and his effort thunders back off the post, luckily Lewandowski hammers the rebound over the crossbar.
39th minute: The woodwork saves Werder again! Lewandowski and Müller combine well but the Poland captain’s shot is flicked onto the bar by a brilliant reflex save from Wiedwald.
46th minute: Once again a catastrophic start for Werder. Bauer and Grillitsch lose the ball in midfield and Müller finds himself in space on the right wing. His cross into the box finds Lewandowski at the post and he bags his second to make it 3-0 after 46 seconds in the second half.
53rd minute: First chance for SVW! A short corner leads to a deep cross to the back post for Luca Caldirola but he can only find the side netting with his header.
63rd minute: A rare quiet period in the game and both sides are looking to bring on reinforcements from the dugout. Janek Sternberg replaces Aaron Johannsson, while Kimmich replaces Alonso for Bayern.
66th Minute: Goal number four for Munich. Philipp Lahm plays a one-two with Thomas Müller and the captain hammers the ball into the far post from a narrow angle. That’s game over for Werder.
73rd minute: 5-0 to Bayern. Müller and Lahm combine once again and the low cross from the right finds Ribéry with space in the box. He makes no mistake and fires home. Where was the Werder defence?
77th minute: That’s a full half-a-dozen. Substitute Maximillian Eggestein brings Rafinha down in the box. Lewandowski steps up and converts to make it 6-0.
80th minute: Eggestein makes up slightly for his earlier error as pulls off a great block at the last minute to deny Lewandowski a fourth.
85th minute: Bartels tries his luck from 22 yards but the shot lacks power and is straight at Manuel Neuer.
90th minute: Full time: A start of the season to forget for Werder Bremen.
Summary: Every plan that Werder took into this game fell apart in the early stages. As SVW looked to be improving and looking to attack after Bayern’s two early goals they couldn’t find a way through the Bayern defence. Any ambitions Werder had for the second half took an immediate nosedive and they struggled to find a way back into the game. FC Augsburg will be Werder’s opponents in two weeks time at the Weser-Stadion.
